TY - JOUR
T1 - The hidden implications of radical group rhetoric
T2 - Integrative complexity and terrorism
AU - Conway, Lucian Gideon
AU - Gornick, Laura Janelle
AU - Houck, Shannon
AU - Towgood, Kirsten Hands
AU - Conway, Kathrene R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is published by permission of the Department of Homeland Security under Contract No. HSHQDC-07-X-00793. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up, non-exclusive, and irrevocable worldwide license in said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17467586.2011.627938 http://www.tandfonline.com
Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the US Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences Division under Inter-Agency Agreement HSHQDC-07-X-00793, made to the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE). The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the US Department of Homeland Security or ORISE.
Copyright:
Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2011/7
Y1 - 2011/7
N2 - We compared the public rhetoric of two terrorist groups to ideologically-similar non-terrorist groups on integrative complexity and its two sub-components (dialectical complexity and elaborative complexity). We further attempted to use these constructs to understand when the two focal terrorist groups engaged in violent acts. Results suggested that terrorist group rhetoric was uniformly simpler than non-terrorist rhetoric, and that this simplicity was especially in evidence for elaborative forms of complexity. Secondly, results more weakly suggested that a pattern of complex thinking associated with defensive thinking - namely, higher elaborative and lower dialectical complexity - became more prevalent in terrorist rhetoric as a violent act became imminent. These results demonstrate that scoring the complexity of public rhetoric can potentially be used to understand the psychology of terrorist groups from a distance.
AB - We compared the public rhetoric of two terrorist groups to ideologically-similar non-terrorist groups on integrative complexity and its two sub-components (dialectical complexity and elaborative complexity). We further attempted to use these constructs to understand when the two focal terrorist groups engaged in violent acts. Results suggested that terrorist group rhetoric was uniformly simpler than non-terrorist rhetoric, and that this simplicity was especially in evidence for elaborative forms of complexity. Secondly, results more weakly suggested that a pattern of complex thinking associated with defensive thinking - namely, higher elaborative and lower dialectical complexity - became more prevalent in terrorist rhetoric as a violent act became imminent. These results demonstrate that scoring the complexity of public rhetoric can potentially be used to understand the psychology of terrorist groups from a distance.
KW - Content analysis
KW - Integrative complexity
KW - Rhetoric
KW - Terrorism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=82055187193&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=82055187193&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17467586.2011.627938
DO - 10.1080/17467586.2011.627938
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:82055187193
SN - 1746-7586
VL - 4
SP - 155
EP - 165
JO - Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict: Pathways toward Terrorism and Genocide
JF - Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict: Pathways toward Terrorism and Genocide
IS - 2
ER -