Terrorists show no shared psychological attitude pattern toward violence

Evidence

Jäger (1981, pp. 167–169), however, found no common pattern in attitudes toward violence, neither ambivalence nor attraction, among the West German terrorists. Some individuals reported a strong prior aversion to aggression. They were conscious of a need to justify their behavior and felt a sense of limitation. Others reported that violence was simply not a problem for them. Jäger concludes that these attitudes depend on individual socialization and are not particularly significant. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4100

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Terrorists are rarely psychopathological, and labeling them so evades political questions — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 4088; Extremists show no elevated mental illness rates relative to the general population — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 150