The Asian Journal Of Social Psychology

OXFORD, Oct. 25 – “At 5 months old my daughter was diagnosed with cancer in both of her eyes” said Ellen Flannery, the Founder and Executive Director of CancerFree KIDS. Cancer is the number two leading cause of death among children between the ages of 5-14. By the time you finish reading this paragraph, two more people have passed away from a form of cancer across the United States.

Post (1998) underline the importance of the family composition (single parent, uncomplite family) and the relations inside of the family. Post (1998) “ also cites studies that show how many terrorists were reared in families that were fragmented, with fathers who were hostile.”

Terrorism is a difficult issue to understand and grasp for many people. What is even more difficult to understand is what drives an individual to become radicalized to the point of joining a terrorist organization and committing terrorist acts. While there is not specific criteria or a “cookie cutter” approach to understanding what motivates and radicalizes an individual to participate in such atrocities, there are however, several psychological and behavioral factors that have been common among these individuals. The following paper will outline some of the psychological and behavioral factors that attribute to an individual’s radicalization and eventual willingness and even perhaps

This excerpt from Silke’s Becoming a Terrorist aims to determine what causes someone to become a terrorist. Silke argues that simply labeling terrorists as mentally unbalanced or psychotic prevents us from achieving a fuller understanding of the phenomenon. As it turns out, there is no one factor that determines whether a person will become a terrorist. Instead, it is a combination of any number of factors from economic circumstance to vengeance and these factors vary widely depending on the culture, social context, terror group, and individual involved.

Although I do agree with Victoroff that the Social Learning does not entirely explain the cause of terrorism, I believe Vicotoroff disregarded/underestimated the extent to which the Social Learning Theory fosters terrorist acts. For example, we live in a society were almost all if not all terrorist acts are televised and publicized extensively. Victoroff clearly stated in the beginning of the paper that the purpose of terrorist act is to influence the intended audience and change their behavior. If many terrorists’ acts are being televised and broadcasted extensively, this further encourages imitation of those acts, further supporting the Social Learning Theory and the role it plays in causing terrorism.--Oyindamola

Psychology of Terrorism, as stated in its title, focuses on analyzing the psychology of terrorism. It is in short a compilation of many essays that are conveniently separated under particular themes such as the psychology of terrorism, terrorism, and the psychological effects of it. The last two sections can be summarized on how to combat terrorism. I believe they will all be invaluable contributions to my essay. Some of the main aspects include a general idea of what exactly is terrorism and why it is such an effective political weapon against a nation, the immediate and long-term psychological effects of terrorism, and the role the media plays in collateral damage in further amplifying the psychological damage of the already vulnerable victims of terrorism. The importance of this book is to provide

There has been a lot of news about terrorism, especially since the 9/11 attacks in New York City. Not only in New York City, but also when the Boston Bombing Marathon occurring, there was a lot of debate whether or not the bomber had any mental illnesses, which caused him to set off the bomb in the first place. Mental illness can be present in everyday life, and can impact one’s well-being, along with societal expectations of how a person should act and say in today’s society. This article looks for the connections between mental illness and terrorism. Most social scientists have found a relationship between mental illness and terrorism. This article shows that there is no correlation between an individual’s mental disorder and engagement in

As people age, they change in a many of ways both biological and psychological. Some of these changed can be for the better and other may not. They are many changes that occur during the aging of the brain, one significant factor is the neuroanatomical and neuropsychological changes that also take place as the individual continues to age. Memory plays a very important part when it comes to all aspects of information processing. During the early, age of an individual’s life is when people tend to retain a great amount of information but as the adults gets older in some cases their memory begins to decline and have difficulty recalling information.

Everyone loves Bruce Lee and who hasn’t seen the multitude of vintage Kung Fu movies. Those movies, probably more than anything else, have given rise to the false impression that all Asians know martial arts. While it’s not unheard of for Asians to be trained in the martial arts, it is also true that this is no more of an occurrence than with any other race. Confronted with this stereotype, many Asians are dumbfounded to the absurdity of the idea that supposedly has them spending a lifetime in martial arts training. Actually, Asian kids spend a good deal of their time playing X-Box and Play Station like everyone else. Really, Asians are more likely to fall into the “genius” stereotype than this one. For certain, all those folks in the

There are many cons about being stereotypical to someone. Some of the cons are, it might hurt someone’s feelings, have a lasting impact on someone’s life, and could cause problems at workplaces, schools etc. It can hurt someone’s feelings because it causes a terrible understanding of a person. If people say that all Asians are terrible drivers, which might give other people an idea that all Asians are bad drivers which is not true. That will also give Asians a bad reputation because just a handful of Asians are terrible drivers. Sometimes, being stereotypical could cause people to take it to heart and stays with them for a long time. Especially when something tragic happened to someone which is similar to the stereotype. A family of the victim could have died because of an Asian driver who was driving recklessly. That could remind them about that situation and could really impact them. Sometimes, being stereotypical could lead to conflicts at work or school or any other place. There are many people who take stereotypes too far and some who take it too seriously. With only 1 of them, that could lead to a

The work of Matusiak (2012) reports that one way that one might conceptualize terrorism "is communication amplified by violence. Since the bombing of Japan

The three motivational categories of terrorism are the rationally motivated terrorist, the psychologically motivated terrorist, and the culturally motivated terrorist (Bartol, Curt, Anne Bartol, 2012). A rationally motivated terrorist tends to consider the goals of the organization while being mindful of the possible consequences of their actions. Psychologically motivated terrorists are driven by a sense of failure or inadequacy finding direction in charismatic leaders. Culturally motivated terrorist’s actions are based of fear of irreparable damages to their way of living, national heritage, or culture done which has either occurred or is going to happen due to the actions an organization, foreign country, or powerful factions. The motives

There had been many theories trying to explain why individuals become radicalized, by identifying some of the recurring features that might be found in terrorist group’s dynamics, we could be able to understand the reason for their attacks against society. We first must understand there are different types of terrorist groups; however, most of these groups rely on similar tactics in order to send their message across and get their demands.

Even though researchers have admitted to the complexities arising during the process of the understand the brain of those who commit such attacks, many have found to focus on groups rather than individuals. The idea of individuals and/or groups having the urge to commit violence antics has confused many researchers. While many have agreed that not all terrorists are psychopaths, they have assessed there is a strong sense of urge to prove a certain belief or action. Beyond learning the individual characteristics it is also revealed that many people are consumed by money, knowledge and power. Therefore through speeches and other forms of propaganda it has made many vulnerable to adapt a violent path. This has led many to explore different beliefs and through psychological strategies has observed the general public attitudes and outlook to establish the best path to take to promote

Terrorist groups, now referred to as Violent Extremist Organizations (VEO)’s, like most things in life has three fundamental phases which consist of a beginning, middle, and an end. The beginning of this process can start early in a child’s life or through a recruitment process. Typically, children are given symbols/items directly related to acts of terrorism. Post (2009) stated, “I have a slide of a 10-month-old infant wearing a toy suicide bomb belt” (p. 383). As these children get older, they learn