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Full-Text Articles in Social Psychology
What Is Categorized As A War Crime Depends On Who Commits It: An Asymmetry In Moral Judgments Of Acts Of War, Alexis Lass
What Is Categorized As A War Crime Depends On Who Commits It: An Asymmetry In Moral Judgments Of Acts Of War, Alexis Lass
Honors Theses
Should all acts of aggression carried out in war be categorized as War Crimes? The Geneva Conventions and the International Criminal Court set specific parameters as to what does and does not constitute a war crime. Research in the domain of moral psychology shows that individuals are guided by the justness of cause when making moral judgements about combatant behavior. However, no prior research has examined whether justness of cause influences whether atrocities are categorized as war crimes or not. Across two studies, we investigated the role aggressor status plays in lay people’s categorization of war crimes. We predict that …
Applying Psychological Theories Of Personality, Identity, And Intergroup Conflict To Radical Violence: A Case Study Of Extremist Behavior, Sydney Flynn
CMC Senior Theses
This paper aims to address possible psychoanalytical explanations for the heinous acts in which terrorists, particularly ISIS, engage. It focuses on Harold D. Lasswell’s principles of the id, ego, and superego as well as Tajfel and Turner’s social identity theory. Within the framework of these two theories, relevant psychological and social psychological theories are discussed in order to explore a possible connection between the psyche of violent perpetrators and their actions. By exploring these connections, I find that there may be more nuanced psychological explanations for these violent acts, which could lead to new methods of weakening perceived biases, intergroup …
Familiarity Bias: Examining A Cognitive-Affective Mechanism Underlying Ideological Support For The Status Quo, John C. Blanchar
Familiarity Bias: Examining A Cognitive-Affective Mechanism Underlying Ideological Support For The Status Quo, John C. Blanchar
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
It is well established that people like familiarity over novelty. Because that which is most familiar is frequently indicative of the way things are, favoring familiarity should create a psychological advantage for the status quo. In two studies, I tested the hypothesis that familiarity bias—susceptibility to the mere-exposure effect whereby attitude objects receive increasingly favorable evaluations due to repeated sensory experience—is foundational to ideological support for the status quo. In Study 1, individual variation in familiarity bias predicted greater Right-Wing Authoritarianism. Existential threat was experimentally manipulated via the salience of international terrorism in Study 2, but was unsuccessful due to …
The Psychology Of Terrorism And Radicalization, Gina K. Dejacimo
The Psychology Of Terrorism And Radicalization, Gina K. Dejacimo
Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects
Terrorism and radicalized political groups are an ever-growing subsection of the American and international news cycles. Mainstream media outlets tend to focus on the atrocious actions of terrorists, leaving the American public without a true understanding of what encourages someone to become a violent, radicalized extremist. This paper intends to investigate possible psychological factors that can predict a person’s likelihood to become radicalized and participate in a salafi jihadi terrorist campaign. If such psychological conditions exist, perhaps they are the key to preventing radicalization in the first place, and in turn, the key to preventing any terrorist activity. What other …