Summary: Researchers find that a desire for excitement, in addition to a search for meaning, can drive support for politically or religiously motivated violence; offering thrilling but peaceful alternatives may reduce that impulse.
Source: American Psychological Society.
What motivates people to support or take part in politically or religiously motivated violence, and how can such behavior be prevented? New research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology suggests that, beyond a search for meaning or significance, a strong desire for excitement and adventure can push individuals toward endorsing or engaging in political violence. Providing non-violent, exciting alternatives could help redirect that urge.
“Recent work has examined how young people are drawn into political and religious movements,” said Birga Schumpe, PhD, a social psychologist at New York University Abu Dhabi and lead author of the study. “While past studies have linked a search for meaning with a willingness to use violence for a cause, our findings indicate that a craving for adventure amplifies that effect.”
The researchers conducted a series of surveys and experiments to explore how the search for meaning and sensation seeking interact and how they relate to support for political violence.
In the first survey, 460 participants from Spain completed measures assessing their search for meaning in life, their appetite for novel and thrilling experiences, their willingness to self-sacrifice for a cause, and their support for political violence. The analysis showed that people searching for meaning were more likely to crave exciting experiences, and that this heightened need for excitement was associated with greater endorsement of political violence.
A follow-up longitudinal study with about 300 Spanish participants repeated the surveys three months apart. Results indicated that the need for adventure tended to grow over time among those searching for meaning, and increases in that need predicted greater openness to political violence.
To assess causality, the team ran several controlled experiments online. In one experiment with 121 participants, half were assigned an exercise intended to increase a sense of meaning—writing an essay about the legacy they wished to leave—while the other half wrote about a mundane topic, such as their favorite athletic shoes. Participants who reflected on legacy reported a stronger sense that their lives had meaning, accompanied by a reduced thirst for excitement and lower support for political violence compared with the control group.
In a second experiment, 305 participants either wrote about a personal episode in which they had searched for meaning or about a routine shopping trip. Those who wrote about searching for meaning subsequently reported an elevated need for meaning, which correlated with greater sensation seeking and, again, stronger support for extreme political violence.
The researchers expanded these findings in additional online studies involving more than 800 participants. In those experiments, support for a hypothetical extremist activist group was partly explained by how exciting participants perceived the group to be: participants who scored high on sensation seeking were likelier to view an activist group as appealing if it seemed thrilling.
Most importantly for prevention, a final online experiment with 392 self-identified animal rights activists tested how presenting different activist styles influenced support for violence among sensation seekers. Participants were shown descriptions of either a low-excitement group engaging in boycotts and prayer vigils or a high-excitement but peaceful group organizing marches, parades, and concerts. High sensation seekers expressed much lower support for political violence when offered a peaceful but exciting activist option than when presented with the unexciting alternative.
“Many counter-extremism efforts focus on countering ideology—trying to persuade people that violent methods are wrong or undermining the foundations of their beliefs,” Schumpe said. “Our research suggests those approaches may miss the mark and sometimes backfire. Interventions should instead aim to help people find constructive meaning in their lives or to channel their desire for thrills into social, non-violent activities and groups that satisfy the need for excitement without promoting harm.”
Source: American Psychological Society.
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image source: NeuroscienceNews.com (public domain).
Original research: Schumpe, B., Bélanger, J., and Nisa, C., “The Role of Sensation Seeking in Political Violence: An Extension to Significance Quest Theory,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Published October 29, 2018. doi:10.1037/pspp0000223.
Abstract
The Role of Sensation Seeking in Political Violence: An Extension to Significance Quest Theory
Although adventure and excitement are often cited to explain involvement in political violence, empirical evidence has been limited. This research integrates sensation seeking with Significance Quest Theory to examine whether a desire for novel and thrilling experiences helps explain why individuals who search for meaning may endorse or participate in violent activism. Across multiple studies, sensation seeking mediated the link between a search for meaning and willingness to self-sacrifice and support political violence. Longitudinal data established the temporal order of these variables, and experimental manipulations replicated the mediating role of sensation seeking. Additional studies demonstrated that high sensation seekers are more likely to support real or hypothetical violent activist groups when they perceive those groups as exciting. Crucially, presenting peaceful but exciting activist alternatives reduced support for extreme behavior among sensation seekers, suggesting a practical route for prevention efforts.