Terrorism Psychological Factors

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Pages: 5

Prior to September 11, 2001, terrorism was not widely thought of as an active threat on U.S soil. Our country had experienced terrorist activities on U.S embassy’ internationally and on our military personnel overseas, but to conceive that the threat could make it to our home front seemed unthinkable. Fast-forward to present day and not only is this threat totally possible, it something real that our military and the government actively combat every single day. What drives a person to become a terrorist? The answer is not as simple as we would like. Terrorism has been around for hundreds of years we still cease to fully understand the mind of the evolving terrorist. However, as this paper will discuss there are some behavioral and psychological factors of individual terrorists that give us insight as to how they become vulnerable, how they get lured into radicalization and disengage from society into the realm of terrorism.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines terrorism as the
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However, things can quickly get escalated and in that type of online setting soon the person can easily feel like they are unable to back out because of the enormous social pressure they have now become caught up in (Kershaw, 2010). With the pressure to deliver actions on their shared ideals and their desire to be accepted, admired and have a purpose the individuals soon finds that their interest in radical beliefs now has taken on a deeper meaning and eventually turns into their belief system (Helfstein, 2012, pg. 16). Anyone who is against these personal beliefs becomes the enemy and their social relationships with outsiders becomes less important and involvement with the radical groups increase, as plans of action begin to