The psychology of offensive and defensive intergroup violence: Preregistered insights from 58 countries

J Jonas R. Kunst (Department of Communication and Culture, BI Norwegian Business School) T Tomasz Besta (Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk) M Michał Jaśkiewicz (Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk) A Anna Natalia Gajda (Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk) M Markus Sanden (Department of Psychology, University of Oslo) M Mina Marie Flatebø (Department of Psychology, University of Oslo) S Sulaiman Olanrewaju Adebayo (Department of Psychology, Ekiti State University) M Marios Adonis (Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia) C Collins Badu Agyemang (Department of Psychology, University of Ghana) R Raymond Agyenim Boateng (Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Design, College of Professional and Continuing Education, Hong Kong Polytechnic University) S Serap Arslan Akfirat (Department of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University) S Samir Al-adawi (Department of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University) C Chiara Ambrosio (Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”) G Gulnaz Anjum (Department of Psychology, University of Oslo) J John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta (Department of Psychology, De La Salle University) I Ivars Austers (Department of Psychology, University of Latvia) O Oumar Barry (Department of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar) B Brock Bastian M Maja Becker (Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse) M Michael Bender N Nora Cornelia Glerud Benningstad (Department of Psychology, University of Oslo) I Islam Borinca (Department of Social Psychology, University of Groningen) G Göksu Celikkol (Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk) J Jiří Čeněk (Department of Social Studies, Mendel University in Brno) T Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon (Department of Psychology, Thammasat University) P Phatthanakit Chobthamkit (Department of Psychology, Thammasat University) H Hoon-Seok Choi (Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University) S Suyeong Choi (Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo) P Patricia Ciordas (Department of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University) A Ann-Cathrin Coenen (Department of Psychology, University of Oslo) A Aleksandra Cupta (Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk) P Piyanjali de Zoysa (Department of Psychiatry, University of Colombo) S Sandesh Dhakal (Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University) L Lauren E. Duncan (Department of Psychology, Smith College) T Tuğçenaz Elcil (Department of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University) B Barkan Eskiili (Department of Psychology, Istanbul Gedik University) E Edgardo Etchezahar (Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid) R Renata Franc (Department of Psychology, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences) S Silvia Galdi (Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”) M Magdalena Garvanova (Department of Information Systems and Technologies, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies) P Paul Gill (Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London) A Augusto Gnisci (Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”) A Angel Gómez (Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia) T Talía Gómez Yepes (Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid) I Igor Grossmann (Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo) E Emily A. Haines (College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University) F Fatjona Haka (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana) B Boaz Hameiri (Program in Conflict Management and Mediation, Tel Aviv University) I Imaduddin Hamzah (Department of Community Guidance, Politeknik Pengayoman Indonesia) M Mai Helmy (Department of Psychology, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University) R Roland Imhoff (Department of Social and Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) S Shanmukh Kamble (Department of Psychology, Karnatak University Dharwad) F Fiona Kazarovytska (Department of Social and Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) A Anna Kende (Department of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University) N Narine Khachatryan (Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, Yerevan State University) S Sasha Y. Kimel (Department of Psychology, California State University San Marcos) J Jack W. Klein A Adam Komisarof (Faculty of Letters, Keio University) D David Lacko T Timo Juhani Lajunen (Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia) B Barbara Lášticová (Institute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences) C Claudio López-Calle (Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Cuenca) W Wilson López-López (Faculty of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana) B Barbara Kalebić Maglica (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Rijeka) R Romualdas Malinauskas (Department of Health, Physical and Social Education, Lithuanian Sports University) S Sona Manusyan (Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, Yerevan State University) K Khatuna Martskvishvili (Department of Psychology, Ivane Javakhisvhili Tbilisi State University) G Gustave Adolphe Messanga (Department of Philosophy-Psychology-Sociology, University of Dschang) M Marta Miklikowska (Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education) J Jelena Minic (Department of Psychology, University of Priština) T Tamara Mohorić (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Rijeka) F Francesca Mottola (Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”) S Silvana Mula (Università degli Studi di Cagliari) P Pasquale Musso (Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro) D Dieynaba Gabrielle Ndiaye (Department of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar) F Félix Neto (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto) J Joana Neto (Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, Universidade Portucalense) L Laina Ngom Dieng (Department of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar) I Ihuoma Faith Obioma (Institute of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt) T Tosin Tunrayo Olonisakin (Department of Psychology, Ekiti State University) S Simon Ozer (Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University) P Penny Panagiotopoulou (Department of Educational Sciences and Social Work, University of Patras) B Beata Pastwa-Wojciechowska (Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk) V Vassilis Pavlopoulos (Department of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens) T Tomislav Pavlović (Department of Psychology, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences) I Inha Petrovska (Department of Psychology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv) A Andrzej Piotrowski (Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk) X Xenia Daniela Poslon (Institute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences) L Lotte Pummerer (Department of Psychology, University of Bremen) M Mahima Raina (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur) J Jano Ramos-Diaz (Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Privada del Norte) V Vilja Robertsson (Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg) B Bettina Rottweiler (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, University of Nebraska) D David L. Sam (Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen) R Rosa Scardigno (Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro) M Marion K. Schulmeyer (Department of Psychology, Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra) A Anna Stefaniak (School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews) A Anna Studzinska (Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse) M Mark J. M. Sullman (Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia) M Marcin Szulc (Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk) W Willy Taffo Nemboué (Department of Philosophy-Psychology-Sociology, University of Dschang) E Ergyul Tair (Department of Psychology, Institute for Population and Human Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) N Nicole Tausch (School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews) N Narendra Singh Thagunna (Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University) E Emma F. Thomas (College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University) J Joaquín Ungaretti (Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid) C Colette Van Laar (Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, University of Leuven (KU Leuven)) Žermēna Vazne (Department of Health Psychology and Paedagogy, Riga Stradins University) A Alexandra Vázquez (Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia) J Jose Villanueva-Alvarado (Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) A Anna Wlodarczyk (School of Psychology, Universidad Católica del Norte) K Kumar Yogeeswaran (Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury) M Milan Obaidi (Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen)

Abstract

Evolutionary theory and historical evidence suggest humans possess distinct psychological tendencies for defensive and offensive violence, which have insufficiently been considered in research. In a large-scale preregistered study across 58 countries ( N = 18,128), we demonstrate that violent extremist intentions manifest along two distinct psychological phenomena: defensive extremism, motivated by protecting one’s group from (perceived) threats, and offensive extremism, driven by establishing group dominance. We show that these dimensions a) can be reliably differentiated across diverse cultural contexts, b) are distinctively associated with psychological dispositions, and c) systematically differentiate countries varying in macrolevel sociopolitical functioning and violence. Across nations, a two-factorial structure was observed that was invariant at the scalar level. Defensive extremist intentions were consistently higher than offensive extremism in 56 out of 58 countries, suggesting greater moral acceptance of protective violence. While psychopathy was positively related to both types of violent extremist intentions, those high in Machiavellianism and narcissism demonstrated particularly higher levels of defensive extremist intentions. By contrast, those scoring high on religious fundamentalism and social dominance orientation demonstrated particularly higher levels of offensive extremist intentions. Unexpectedly, liberal political group identification was associated with higher offensive but lower defensive extremist intentions. Crucially, offensive (but not defensive) intentions were associated with macrolevel societal dysfunction, including political terror and internal conflict. These findings establish that defensive and offensive violent extremist intentions represent two conceptually different forms of extremism across a large and diverse range of countries, with consequences for research and practice.

Article Details

Volume / Issue Vol. 123, Issue 13
Published March 31, 2026
ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher National Academy of Sciences

Authors (113)

J

Jonas R. Kunst

Department of Communication and Culture, BI Norwegian Business School

T

Tomasz Besta

Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk

M

Michał Jaśkiewicz

Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk

A

Anna Natalia Gajda

Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk

M

Markus Sanden

Department of Psychology, University of Oslo

M

Mina Marie Flatebø

Department of Psychology, University of Oslo

S

Sulaiman Olanrewaju Adebayo

Department of Psychology, Ekiti State University

M

Marios Adonis

Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia

C

Collins Badu Agyemang

Department of Psychology, University of Ghana

R

Raymond Agyenim Boateng

Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Design, College of Professional and Continuing Education, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

S

Serap Arslan Akfirat

Department of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University

S

Samir Al-adawi

Department of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University

C

Chiara Ambrosio

Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”

G

Gulnaz Anjum

Department of Psychology, University of Oslo

J

John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta

Department of Psychology, De La Salle University

I

Ivars Austers

Department of Psychology, University of Latvia

O

Oumar Barry

Department of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar

B

Brock Bastian

M

Maja Becker

Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse

M

Michael Bender

N

Nora Cornelia Glerud Benningstad

Department of Psychology, University of Oslo

I

Islam Borinca

Department of Social Psychology, University of Groningen

G

Göksu Celikkol

Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk

J

Jiří Čeněk

Department of Social Studies, Mendel University in Brno

T

Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon

Department of Psychology, Thammasat University

P

Phatthanakit Chobthamkit

Department of Psychology, Thammasat University

H

Hoon-Seok Choi

Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University

S

Suyeong Choi

Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo

P

Patricia Ciordas

Department of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University

A

Ann-Cathrin Coenen

Department of Psychology, University of Oslo

A

Aleksandra Cupta

Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk

P

Piyanjali de Zoysa

Department of Psychiatry, University of Colombo

S

Sandesh Dhakal

Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University

L

Lauren E. Duncan

Department of Psychology, Smith College

T

Tuğçenaz Elcil

Department of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University

B

Barkan Eskiili

Department of Psychology, Istanbul Gedik University

E

Edgardo Etchezahar

Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid

R

Renata Franc

Department of Psychology, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences

S

Silvia Galdi

Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”

M

Magdalena Garvanova

Department of Information Systems and Technologies, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies

P

Paul Gill

Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London

A

Augusto Gnisci

Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”

A

Angel Gómez

Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

T

Talía Gómez Yepes

Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid

I

Igor Grossmann

Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo

E

Emily A. Haines

College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University

F

Fatjona Haka

Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana

B

Boaz Hameiri

Program in Conflict Management and Mediation, Tel Aviv University

I

Imaduddin Hamzah

Department of Community Guidance, Politeknik Pengayoman Indonesia

M

Mai Helmy

Department of Psychology, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University

R

Roland Imhoff

Department of Social and Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

S

Shanmukh Kamble

Department of Psychology, Karnatak University Dharwad

F

Fiona Kazarovytska

Department of Social and Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

A

Anna Kende

Department of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University

N

Narine Khachatryan

Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, Yerevan State University

S

Sasha Y. Kimel

Department of Psychology, California State University San Marcos

J

Jack W. Klein

A

Adam Komisarof

Faculty of Letters, Keio University

D

David Lacko

T

Timo Juhani Lajunen

Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia

B

Barbara Lášticová

Institute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences

C

Claudio López-Calle

Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Cuenca

W

Wilson López-López

Faculty of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana

B

Barbara Kalebić Maglica

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Rijeka

R

Romualdas Malinauskas

Department of Health, Physical and Social Education, Lithuanian Sports University

S

Sona Manusyan

Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, Yerevan State University

K

Khatuna Martskvishvili

Department of Psychology, Ivane Javakhisvhili Tbilisi State University

G

Gustave Adolphe Messanga

Department of Philosophy-Psychology-Sociology, University of Dschang

M

Marta Miklikowska

Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education

J

Jelena Minic

Department of Psychology, University of Priština

T

Tamara Mohorić

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Rijeka

F

Francesca Mottola

Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”

S

Silvana Mula

Università degli Studi di Cagliari

P

Pasquale Musso

Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro

D

Dieynaba Gabrielle Ndiaye

Department of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar

F

Félix Neto

Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto

J

Joana Neto

Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, Universidade Portucalense

L

Laina Ngom Dieng

Department of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar

I

Ihuoma Faith Obioma

Institute of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt

T

Tosin Tunrayo Olonisakin

Department of Psychology, Ekiti State University

S

Simon Ozer

Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University

P

Penny Panagiotopoulou

Department of Educational Sciences and Social Work, University of Patras

B

Beata Pastwa-Wojciechowska

Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk

V

Vassilis Pavlopoulos

Department of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

T

Tomislav Pavlović

Department of Psychology, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences

I

Inha Petrovska

Department of Psychology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv

A

Andrzej Piotrowski

Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk

X

Xenia Daniela Poslon

Institute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences

L

Lotte Pummerer

Department of Psychology, University of Bremen

M

Mahima Raina

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

J

Jano Ramos-Diaz

Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Privada del Norte

V

Vilja Robertsson

Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg

B

Bettina Rottweiler

National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, University of Nebraska

D

David L. Sam

Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen

R

Rosa Scardigno

Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro

M

Marion K. Schulmeyer

Department of Psychology, Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra

A

Anna Stefaniak

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews

A

Anna Studzinska

Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse

M

Mark J. M. Sullman

Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia

M

Marcin Szulc

Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk

W

Willy Taffo Nemboué

Department of Philosophy-Psychology-Sociology, University of Dschang

E

Ergyul Tair

Department of Psychology, Institute for Population and Human Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

N

Nicole Tausch

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews

N

Narendra Singh Thagunna

Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University

E

Emma F. Thomas

College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University

J

Joaquín Ungaretti

Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid

C

Colette Van Laar

Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, University of Leuven (KU Leuven)

Žermēna Vazne

Department of Health Psychology and Paedagogy, Riga Stradins University

A

Alexandra Vázquez

Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

J

Jose Villanueva-Alvarado

Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

A

Anna Wlodarczyk

School of Psychology, Universidad Católica del Norte

K

Kumar Yogeeswaran

Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury

M

Milan Obaidi

Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen