Article2014

From Uncertainty to Extremism

298 citations0/0 files storedCurrent Directions in Psychological Science

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Social and Intergroup Psychology Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion

Abstract

Societal change and personal life events sometimes make one feel uncertain about one’s self and identity. According to uncertainty-identity theory, this self-uncertainty can motivate people to identify with social groups, particularly groups that provide a distinctive and clearly defined identity and associated normative beliefs and behavioral prescriptions. This process can make more extreme groups and behaviors attractive as a source of identification-contingent uncertainty reduction. People may zealously identify with highly distinctive groups that have strong and directive leadership and ideological and ethnocentric belief systems that proscribe dissent and prescribe group-normative behavior. This analysis has been extended to help illuminate how extremism may emerge in the context of religion, politics, gangs, leadership, and adolescent risk taking. This article describes uncertainty-identity theory, overviews empirical support for its main tenets, and outlines some directions for future research.

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References

1954A Theory of Social Comparison Processes 1982Judgment under Uncertainty 1987Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self‐Categorization Theory 1989Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-Categorization Theory.1984Judgment Under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases.1982Judgment under uncertainty: Causality and attribution 2012Handbook of theories of social psychology 1930The Quest for Certainty: A Study of the Relation of Knowledge and Action.

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