Extremism occurs when a certain need, for instance, significance quest, overrides other human motivations. Based on the Significance Quest Theory, we argue that ambition—a specific aspect of significance quest—can lead to extremism, particularly through obsessive passion. In an Italian sample (Study 1, N = 249) we predicted and found that ambition was positively related to both obsessive and harmonious passion; however, only obsessive passion positively predicted extremism. To bolster and generalize our findings we conducted a second study involving American participants (Study 2, N = 300). We confirmed the mediating role of obsessive passion in the relationship between ambition and extremism, while we did not find the mediating role of harmonious passion. The present research has theoretical implications in that it constitutes the first evidence that ambition might share some aspects with significance quest and sheds new light on ambition field. Moreover, our findings provide practical ways to prevent extremism.

当某种需要（例如，对意义的追求）凌驾于其他人类动机时，就会出现极端主义。基于意义追求理论，我们认为野心——意义追求的一个特定方面——会导致极端主义，特别是通过痴迷的激情。在一个意大利样本（研究 1，N = 249）中，我们预测并发现野心与强迫性和和谐的激情呈正相关；然而，只有痴迷的激情才能积极预测极端主义。为了支持和推广我们的研究结果，我们进行了第二项涉及美国参与者的研究（研究 2，N = 300）。我们确认了强迫性激情在野心与极端主义关系中的中介作用，而没有发现和谐激情的中介作用。本研究具有理论意义，因为它构成了野心可能与意义追求在某些方面共享的第一个证据，并为野心领域提供了新的视角。此外，我们的研究结果提供了预防极端主义的实用方法。