Lecture 2: why join a violent group? Flashcards
The role of Maslow’s pyramid of human needs
(psychological –> safety –> belonging and love –> esteem –> cognitive –> aesthetic –> self-actualisation –> transcendence)
Groups can help us fulfil these needs, like self-actualisation and transcendence, but a group can also fulfil needs for:
- The feeling that they don’t matter.
- The need for significance.
- The need for belonging.
- The need for purpose.
- Relieving negative emotions.
Significance quest theory
The feeling that you’re not significant (the burden of insignificance) can explain why people join violent groups:
1. Humans have a basic need to have social worth and to matter to others (the need for significance).
2. This need can be satisfied by the sense of matching the values of a certain group.
3. Different group may cherish different values.
4. The need is satisfied via different behaviours to mach/express the cherished values.
Joining violent groups for superiority
People who have the need for significance often become attracted to groups who have some form of superiority, because one way to feel significant, is to emphasis the membership of a group that has superiority over another group. (This can lead to feelings of in-group superiority and hate crimes).
The need for belonging
The need to feel like you belong to a group, that you are part of something and that you are connected to other people. (Strongly connected to the need for significance).
Experiment: people had a stronger need for social relations after they (randomly) failed a test.
The need for purpose
Searching a sense of purpose in your life can be fulfilled within a violent group. This is why people join violent ideology groups, because it’s a system of beliefs about what the world should look like (meaning of life, what is right and wrong).
BUT: these groups think that the world is NOT as it should be, and violence needs to be applied to stop those preventing this. This is the purpose of the people who are part of this group.
The role of ideology on an individual level
Ideology is not very important in the individual’s decision to join a group, but the feeling of significance gained by the group is translated through ideology. It’s a way of expressing themselves.
The need to relieve negative emotions
Feelings of insignificance can create a lot of negative emotions, which can be expressed through the group. Violent groups often offer a lot of outlets for this anger (like violence.)
