What pass on in the mind of a terrorist ? A noteworthy new study has hold out brain scans on sympathizers of a terrorist group to find out .
Reporting in the journalRoyal Society Open Science , an international squad of researchers managed to convince a group of young men with extremist persuasion to undergo an functional magnetic resonance imaging scan and answer questions about their values .
The men were found to have lower grade of action in brain areas related to cognitive control and reasoning when asked about theirsacred value – abstract ideals , such as god or nation – and their willingness to fight down for their beliefs .
In other news , their mindset on these issues was define by reduced rational thought , as well as a reduced ability to weigh up the costs and consequences of their actions . However , this was not the font when they were quizzed about more neutral " non - sacred " values .
After conducting a tumid sketch of untested men of Pakistani bloodline living in Barcelona , the research team weeded out 30 participant who openly say they would trust violence against civilians in the name of jihadism . All of these participant also express financial support forLashkar - e - Taiba , one of the macrocosm ’s most active Islamist warlike system that has love links to the former Taliban government in Afghanistan and al - Qaeda .
outstandingly , the men agree to amply cooperate with the research . Under the gaze of an functional magnetic resonance imaging machine , the men were require about their consecrated and non - sacred values , as well as their willingness to struggle and go for these values . The same experiment was then sway out on a group of college educatee in the US and the differences in psyche activity were compared .
As mentioned , the discussion about sacred value with the radicalized group sparked less cognitive ascendancy and reasoning than the non - radicalized group . However , most crucially , the researcher found that the men were more likely to soften their views and were less willing to fail for their cause if they learn that their friends and peers dissent with their views . This is despite the fact that many of the participants appeared to be outraged that their equal were not as willing to engage in violence as they were . This suggest that there is a way to help save individual from the influence of ultra political group , whether its basal Islamist organizations or far - rightfulness hatred grouping .
“ Our experiment betoken that creating inclusive club that offer pathways to purpose and a sense of belonging to all its citizen has to be a precedency in the fight against political violence , ” two of the researchers , Nafees Hamid , PhD candidate at the Department of Security and Crime Science at University College London and Clara Pretus , Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychiatry and Legal Medicine at the Autonomous University of Barcelona , conclude in an article forThe Conversation .
" Simplistic explanations that call hoi polloi ' crazy ' , find fault a whole religion or ethnicity , or cast local communities as the villains only obscure hardheaded result and provide a enlisting boost to terrorist groups . An inclusive society with pathways to purpose must be an aim for policy that seek to forestall violent extremism , " they sum .
