Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:21:02.603Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Suicide terrorism and post-mortem benefits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2014

Jacqueline M. Gray  and
Thomas E. Dickins
Jacqueline M. Gray
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Middlesex University, London, NW4 4BT, United Kingdom. [email protected]://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/staffdirectory/[email protected]://dissentwithmodification.com/
Thomas E. Dickins
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Middlesex University, London, NW4 4BT, United Kingdom. [email protected]://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/staffdirectory/[email protected]://dissentwithmodification.com/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lankford claims that suicide terrorists are suicidal, but that their suicidal tendencies are often frustrated by injunctive social norms. Martyrdom represents a solution, and terrorist organizations exploit this. In this commentary, we claim that this argument has not been fully made and that such ideation in itself does not explain a willingness to engage in punitive actions against an enemy. We suggest the psychology of kinship as a possible missing factor.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 369 - 370
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Lankford, A. (2013c) The myth of martyrdom: What really drives suicide bombers, rampage shooter, and other self-destructive killers. Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lester, D. (2006) Suicide and Islam. Archives of Suicide Research 10(1):77–97.Google Scholar
Lieberman, D. & Lobel, T. (2012) Kinship on the Kibbutz: Coresidence duration predicts altruism, personal sexual aversions and moral attitudes among communally reared peers. Evolution and Human Behavior 33(1):26–34. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.05.002.Google Scholar
Lieberman, D., Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (2007) The architecture of human kin detection. Nature 445(7129):727–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCauley, C. & Moskalenko, S. (2008) Mechanisms of political radicalization: Pathways toward terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence 20:415–33.Google Scholar
Moghaddam, F. M. (2005) The staircase to terrorism: A psychological exploration. American Psychologist 60:161–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Qirko, H. N. (2009) Altruism in suicide terrorism organizations. Zygon 44(2):289–322. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.01001.x.Google Scholar
Qirko, H. N. (2013) Induced altruism in religious, military, and terrorist organizations. Cross-Cultural Research 47(2):131–61. doi:10.1177/1069397112471804.Google Scholar