DISRUPTING PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES THAT SUPPORT TERRORIST ACTS
By Noel Palmer April 20, 2018
The same psychological processes that allow lying and cheating to be commonplace can also work for terrorism.
Thank you, Chief. All I’m saying is…that until we understand that our enemies are also human beings…we will never defeat them. Yes, they are bad guys, but that is what they do, not who they are. ~Maxwell Smart
A common debate in terrorism research concerns the mental stability of individual terrorists. The construction of the “other†is an ancient characteristic of violence between human groups. Terrorists must not think like us, we tell ourselves. Indeed, how else to explain their deliberate involvement in the extreme and often indiscriminate violence characteristic of terrorist groups? Even the sanity of followers who support the heinous acts of terrorists must be questioned…right? Maybe not. When we insist on treating terrorists and the populations they draw from as the “other,†we undermine our effective use of information in shaping decisions in those populations. Seeing target populations as inherently alien to us puts them beyond the reach of our psychological tools. This is a mistake.
https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/articles/breaking-the-routine-disrupting-psychological-processes-that-support-terrorist-acts/?utm_source=RC+Defense+Morning+Recon&utm_campaign=05982ec92b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_694f73a8dc-05982ec92b-81835773
