The question of the role of individual personality in extremism, i.e., the support for the use of violence to achieve political goals, and radicalization, including aggressive religious radicalization, is quite interesting. In this regard, it is particularly important to note that psychopathic predispositions are the strongest factor predicting violent behavior, which means it can be assumed that they also explain these phenomena to some extent. And in some studies, this question has indeed been addressed.
For example, in one of them, it was studied to what extent the presence of militant extremist thinking in a person can be explained by a tendency toward psychopathy, sadism, and disintegration (psychosis). Using a sample of 306 students, it was shown that sadistic and psychopathic tendencies are linked to pronationality—the support of violence as a method of achieving goals. Psychopathy and disintegration were also linked to the belief that the world is a corrupt and vile place. Furthermore, disintegration was a good predictor of a person’s tendency to rely on supernatural forces as a rational justification for extremist actions. These results were replicated in a similar study conducted on a sample of 147 male inmates.
In another study involving a sample of 643 women, it was shown that those with high scores in Dark Triad traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) were characterized by the highest levels of radicalized consciousness and behavior and were prone to aggressive religious radicalization. Also, in a sample of 299 students, a positive correlation between Dark Triad traits and pro-violence and support for extremism was confirmed. A significant positive correlation between psychopathy and extremism is confirmed by another study, conducted on 954 volunteers. Additionally, in a sample of 469 students, it was found that psychopathy and narcissism directly explain a person’s pro-violence, whereas psychopathy and Machiavellianism directly explain radical religious behavior.
As we can see, psychopathy, as well as other socially negative personality traits such as narcissism, Machiavellianism, sadism, and disintegration, are factors that, according to numerous studies, predict a person’s tendency toward pro-violence, extremism, and radicalism. This must be known for a better understanding of the problem of such behavior and a more effective search for possible methods to solve it.
