Document Type
Book Chapter
Version
Author's Final Manuscript
Publication Title
De Gruyter Handbook of the Psychology of Terrorism
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
Radicalization refers to changes in beliefs, feelings, and actions toward increased support for one side of an intergroup conflict. The extreme of action radicalization is political violence and terrorism. Twelve psychological mechanisms driving participation in political violence are identified. At the individual level, motivation to engage in political violence can be based on personal grievance, political grievance, “slippery slope” participation in illegal political activity, love for already-radicalized friends and relatives, and social disconnection (”unfreezing”) that opens an individual to new ideas and new comrades. At the group level, participation in political violence can emerge from extremity shift of like-minded group members, intergroup competition (with state forces or other militant groups), and the social reality power of isolated groups. At the level of mass opinion, support for political violence is increased by perceived external threats, dehumanization of the outgroup (hate), and the construction of political martyrs.
Citation
Moskalenko, Sophia and Clark McCauley. 2026. "Twelve Mechanisms of Radicalization to Terrorism." In De Gruyter Handbook of the Psychology of Terrorism, edited by Clark R. McCauley, Sophia Moskalenko, and Gina Scott Ligon, 83-96. Berlin: De Gruyter.