key question Flashcards
state the key question
What makes people commit acts of terrorism against fellow human beings?
what is terrorism?
the use or threat of action to influence a gov or intimidate the public for a political or religious cause
why is it important to study this?
threat to our public safety
our enjoyment of life
our economy
increase division & hate crime in society
2 examples of genocide?
9/11, London Transport
How does SIT by Tajfel relate to terrorism
Terrorist= in group, anti-terrorist= out group. By identifying with one group they start to take identify of the group which may involve dressing/using particular language and developing common beliefs. In group favouritism is important for self-esteem and may lead to discrimination against other groups in order to maintain this self-esteem
How does RCT by Sherif relate to terrorism?
Competition between the terrorist and anti-terrorist group this could be in the form social or political which could lead to discrimination
How Milgram’s agentic state of obedience?
Terrorists may be following a leader in a position of authority who may make them obey their commands to carry out atrocities. Terrorists are therefore, obeying the leaders’ authority figures as they are in agentic state. Milgram found that ppts were more likely to carry on giving potentially fatal shocks as they believed the responsibility for their own actions lay with someone else
How could SIT resolve terrorism?
Try to break down physical boundaries. Don’t segregate people by their religion (Deutsch & Collins)
How could RCT resolve terrorism?
Get people work towards a superordinate goal eg peace
How can Milgram’s agentic state theory resolve terrorism?
Educate people about operating in autonomous state and & agentic. Ensure organisations don’t abuse hierarchal power
Strengths of SIT in explaining terrorism
Shows how people begin to identify with their group and eventually start seeing their in-group as better than the out-group in order to maintain thei own self esteem eg Tajfel et all lab exp how boys favoured their in group and discriminate out-group
Weaknesses of SIT explaining terrorism
Tajfel’s results cannot be generalised beyond young boys in a lab setting so can’t be applied to complex factors involved in terrorist activites
Strengths of Milgram’s agency theory explaining terrorism?
People obey authority figures and commit atrocious acts on other human beings. Suggests terrorist goes into agentic state where they don’t act from their free will but place responsibility on authrity figure eg Milgram’s study 65% shocks
Weaknesses of Milgram’s agency theory explaining terrorism?
Lacked ecological validity because they were carried out in a lab environment at Yale so cannot be assumed results apply to complex terrorism situations with many other factors acting on them
Strengths of RCT to explain terrorism?
People come into conflict over resources like land or oil they may also be competing over ideologies or political dominance which many case hostility and fighting terrorist acts eg Robbers Cave experiment study how 11 year old boy become hostile to each other burning flags and ransacking each others camps as a result
Weaknesses of RCT to explain terrorism
Sample of all boys from same socioeconomic status, protestant, race and from Oklahoma so we cannot generalise these findings to adults or other cultures
Discuss q first paragraph (not intro)?
Social Psychology can explain terrorism through social identity theory. This theory would suggest that terrorists may believe that they are the in-group and categorise themselves at the expense of the anti-terrorists (out-group). They may identify with the ingroup, taking on their norms, values and beliefs. For example, religious beliefs may become extremely important to them. In-group favouritism may then lead them to discriminate against other groups, including through terror attacks, in order to maintain their self-esteem. Evidence for social identity theory comes from Tajfel’s minimal groups research, where boys discriminated against an outgroup and favoured their ingroup even though they did not know who was in their group.
Discuss q 2nd paragraph?
A second explanation for terrorism from social psychology comes from realistic conflict theory. This theory suggests that prejudice arises when groups compete for scarce resources. For example, conflict and acts of terror in the Gaza Strip could be explained by competition for the resource of land. Evidence for this theory comes from Sherif’s Robber’s Cave Study, where prejudice was caused by competing for scarce resources such as a pocketknife. However, we cannot generalise all findings from this study as it only consisted all 22 11 year old boys who were all protestant and white
Discuss q 3rd paragraph?
A third explanation for terrorism from social psychology comes from Agency Theory. This theory suggests that terrorists may be following a leader in a position of authority who may make them obey his/her commands to carry out atrocities. They may not feel any responsibility for their actions as they believe they are just carrying out someone else’s orders. For example, a suicide bomber may not feel personally responsible for their actions. Evidence for this comes from Milgram’s research into obedience, where 65% people followed orders to give electric shocks to other people. Furthermore, this study can be generalised to more realistic situations as well eg Hofling found 92% nurses would give a lethal dosage because they were told to do so.
Discuss q 4th paragraph (no need for conc)
However, it is possible that individual personality factors rather than group membership may also explain terrorism. For example, Adorno’s research suggests that certain people, for example those high in the personality trait of authoritarianism, are more likely to be prejudiced as they would hostile to those who are seen as inferior to themselves.
