The psychology of offensive and defensive intergroup violence: Preregistered insights from 58 countries
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
Journal Info
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
Authors (113)
Jonas R. Kunst
Department of Communication and Culture, BI Norwegian Business School
Tomasz Besta
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk
Michał Jaśkiewicz
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk
Anna Natalia Gajda
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk
Markus Sanden
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
Mina Marie Flatebø
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
Sulaiman Olanrewaju Adebayo
Department of Psychology, Ekiti State University
Marios Adonis
Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia
Collins Badu Agyemang
Department of Psychology, University of Ghana
Raymond Agyenim Boateng
Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Design, College of Professional and Continuing Education, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Serap Arslan Akfirat
Department of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University
Samir Al-adawi
Department of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University
Chiara Ambrosio
Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”
Gulnaz Anjum
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
John Jamir Benzon R. Aruta
Department of Psychology, De La Salle University
Ivars Austers
Department of Psychology, University of Latvia
Oumar Barry
Department of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
Brock Bastian
Maja Becker
Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse
Michael Bender
Nora Cornelia Glerud Benningstad
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
Islam Borinca
Department of Social Psychology, University of Groningen
Göksu Celikkol
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk
Jiří Čeněk
Department of Social Studies, Mendel University in Brno
Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon
Department of Psychology, Thammasat University
Phatthanakit Chobthamkit
Department of Psychology, Thammasat University
Hoon-Seok Choi
Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University
Suyeong Choi
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo
Patricia Ciordas
Department of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University
Ann-Cathrin Coenen
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo
Aleksandra Cupta
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk
Piyanjali de Zoysa
Department of Psychiatry, University of Colombo
Sandesh Dhakal
Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University
Lauren E. Duncan
Department of Psychology, Smith College
Tuğçenaz Elcil
Department of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University
Barkan Eskiili
Department of Psychology, Istanbul Gedik University
Edgardo Etchezahar
Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid
Renata Franc
Department of Psychology, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences
Silvia Galdi
Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”
Magdalena Garvanova
Department of Information Systems and Technologies, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies
Paul Gill
Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London
Augusto Gnisci
Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”
Angel Gómez
Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Talía Gómez Yepes
Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid
Igor Grossmann
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo
Emily A. Haines
College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University
Fatjona Haka
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana
Boaz Hameiri
Program in Conflict Management and Mediation, Tel Aviv University
Imaduddin Hamzah
Department of Community Guidance, Politeknik Pengayoman Indonesia
Mai Helmy
Department of Psychology, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University
Roland Imhoff
Department of Social and Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Shanmukh Kamble
Department of Psychology, Karnatak University Dharwad
Fiona Kazarovytska
Department of Social and Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Anna Kende
Department of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University
Narine Khachatryan
Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, Yerevan State University
Sasha Y. Kimel
Department of Psychology, California State University San Marcos
Jack W. Klein
Adam Komisarof
Faculty of Letters, Keio University
David Lacko
Timo Juhani Lajunen
Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia
Barbara Lášticová
Institute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Claudio López-Calle
Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Cuenca
Wilson López-López
Faculty of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Barbara Kalebić Maglica
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Rijeka
Romualdas Malinauskas
Department of Health, Physical and Social Education, Lithuanian Sports University
Sona Manusyan
Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology, Yerevan State University
Khatuna Martskvishvili
Department of Psychology, Ivane Javakhisvhili Tbilisi State University
Gustave Adolphe Messanga
Department of Philosophy-Psychology-Sociology, University of Dschang
Marta Miklikowska
Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education
Jelena Minic
Department of Psychology, University of Priština
Tamara Mohorić
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Rijeka
Francesca Mottola
Department of Psychology, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”
Silvana Mula
Università degli Studi di Cagliari
Pasquale Musso
Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro
Dieynaba Gabrielle Ndiaye
Department of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
Félix Neto
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto
Joana Neto
Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, Universidade Portucalense
Laina Ngom Dieng
Department of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
Ihuoma Faith Obioma
Institute of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt
Tosin Tunrayo Olonisakin
Department of Psychology, Ekiti State University
Simon Ozer
Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University
Penny Panagiotopoulou
Department of Educational Sciences and Social Work, University of Patras
Beata Pastwa-Wojciechowska
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk
Vassilis Pavlopoulos
Department of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Tomislav Pavlović
Department of Psychology, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences
Inha Petrovska
Department of Psychology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv
Andrzej Piotrowski
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk
Xenia Daniela Poslon
Institute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Lotte Pummerer
Department of Psychology, University of Bremen
Mahima Raina
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Jano Ramos-Diaz
Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Privada del Norte
Vilja Robertsson
Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg
Bettina Rottweiler
National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, University of Nebraska
David L. Sam
Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen
Rosa Scardigno
Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro
Marion K. Schulmeyer
Department of Psychology, Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Anna Stefaniak
School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews
Anna Studzinska
Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse
Mark J. M. Sullman
Department of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia
Marcin Szulc
Institute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk
Willy Taffo Nemboué
Department of Philosophy-Psychology-Sociology, University of Dschang
Ergyul Tair
Department of Psychology, Institute for Population and Human Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Nicole Tausch
School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews
Narendra Singh Thagunna
Central Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University
Emma F. Thomas
College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University
Joaquín Ungaretti
Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid
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
Alexandra Vázquez
Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
Jose Villanueva-Alvarado
Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
Anna Wlodarczyk
School of Psychology, Universidad Católica del Norte
Kumar Yogeeswaran
Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury
Milan Obaidi
Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen