The Quest for Significance: Attitude Adaption to a Radical Group Following Social Exclusion

Issue title: Developmental Pathways towards Violent Left-, Right-Wing, Islamist Extremism and Radicalization

Guest editors: Herbert Scheithauer, Vincenz Leuschner, Nils Böckler, Babak Akhgar and Holger Nitsch

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bäck, Emma A.^{a; *} | Bäck, Hanna^b | Altermark, Niklas^b | Knapton, Holly^b

Affiliations: [a] University of Gothenburg, Sweden | [b] Lund University, Sweden

Correspondence: [*] Address for correspondence: Emma A. Bäck, University of Gothenburg, Department of Psychology, Box 500, SE – 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: It is a human fundamental to desire to be valued, loved and respected – to be significant. Social exclusion induce significance loss which elicits a ‘quest for significance’ – the search for opportunities to re-gain significance. The present article establishes this relation in a laboratory experiment (N = 71, mean age = 28, SD = 10.42, 65% women, 35% men), showing that socially excluded individuals who are subsequently included by a radical group, adapt their attitudes in line with this group. We use a modified version of the well-known paradigm ‘Cyberball’ to elicit the quest for significance. The results show that when experiencing social exclusion, highly rejection sensitive individuals tend to adapt to the radical group’s opinions. The results are important, highlighting a mechanism in the radicalization process and the importance of taking social factors into account in this process.

Keywords: Radicalization, social exclusion, Cyberball, conformity

DOI: 10.3233/DEV-170230

Journal: International Journal of Developmental Science, vol. 12, no. 1-2, pp. 25-36, 2018