Abstract

Although violent extremist attitudes promote extremist violence, little is known about the process through which these attitudes develop. Therefore, the present study attempted to advance knowledge of their development by exploring the relationships between three basic psychological needs (competence, relatedness, and autonomy), four dimensions of actively open-minded thinking (dogmatism, fact resistance, liberalism, and belief personification), and violent extremist attitudes. This study also aimed at examining whether the dimensions of actively open-minded thinking could account for the relationships between psychological needs and violent extremist attitudes. Five hundred nine adult volunteers (254 females and 255 males, M_age = 33.20, SD_age = 12.31) answered online questionnaires that assessed psychological needs, actively open-minded thinking, and violent extremist attitudes. I built and analyzed two structural equation models, and the results revealed that relatedness satisfaction negatively predicted violent extremist attitudes through experiencing lower levels of belief personification (i.e., dichotomized mode of thinking opposing “me/us” to “them”) (Model), while relatedness frustration positively predicted violent extremist attitudes through experiencing enhanced sense of belief personification (Model 2). Finally, this study highlighted the importance of satisfying people’s need for relatedness and helping them counteract the development of binary attitudes toward others, as preventive strategies against radicalization to violence.

摘要

尽管暴力极端主义态度助长了极端主义暴力，但人们对这些态度发展的过程知之甚少。因此，本研究试图通过探索三种基本心理需求（能力、关联性和自主性）、积极开放思维的四个维度（教条主义、抗拒事实、自由主义和信仰拟人化）之间的关系来增进对其发展的认识。 ，以及暴力极端主义的态度。本研究还旨在检验积极开放思维的维度是否可以解释心理需求与暴力极端主义态度之间的关系。509 名成年志愿者（254 名女性和 255 名男性，M_年龄 = 33.20，SD_年龄 = 12.31）回答了评估心理需求、积极开放的思想和暴力极端主义态度的在线问卷。我建立并分析了两个结构方程模型，结果表明，相关性满意度通过经历较低水平的信仰拟人化（即，将“我/我们”与“他们”对立的二分思维模式）负面预测暴力极端主义态度（模型），而相关性挫折通过体验增强的信念拟人感正向预测暴力极端主义态度（模型2）。最后，这项研究强调了满足人们对相关性的需求并帮助他们抵制对他人二元态度的发展的重要性，作为防止激进化为暴力的预防策略。