Panel 7B: Psychological and psychiatric drivers
Chair: Chamin Herath (analyst)
In what ways can ADHD create contextual vulnerabilities and risk for online terrorism? Dr Rachel Worthington (Manchester Metropolitan University & University of Central Lancashire) [Co-author: Dr Zainab Al-Attar (University of Central Lancashire)] Abstract: This presentation will address how Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can contribute to contexts for online terrorism risk in a small minority of individuals, who both pose a terrorism risk and have a diagnosis of ADHD: •Background: ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a dysfunctional pattern of inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity. Most people with ADHD do not commit offences and in offenders with ADHD, ADHD does not cause offending behaviour, rather, aspects of ADHD may contribute to both risk and resilience factors for offending. Research has shown that ADHD is associated with cyber-deviance and the internet is playing an increasingly prominent role in radicalisation processes for people convicted of extremism. •Methods: A Systematic Review was performed according to the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Papers were screened for quality appraisal and risk of bias. 46 papers were deemed as meeting the final inclusion criteria. •Conclusions: The ways in which each symptom and secondary feature of ADHD can create push and pull for online terrorism will be discussed. The implications of the literature and theoretical-clinical models for risk assessment and reduction will also be explored, with suggestions for further research. Measuring Socio-Psychological Drivers of Extreme Violence in Online Terrorist Manifestos: An Alternative Linguistic Risk Assessment Model Dr Julia Ebner (University of Oxford & Institute for Strategic Dialogue) [Co-authors: Prof Harvey Whitehouse (University of Oxford) & Dr Christopher Kavanagh (University of Oxford)] Abstract: This paper seeks to establish a novel method of assessing the risk that online users will engage in acts of violent extremism based on linguistic markers detectable in terrorist manifestos. A comparative NLP analysis was carried out across fifteen manifestos on a scale from violent terrorist to non-violent politically moderate. Our NLP code used a dictionary approach to measure the statistical significance of narratives previously identified in terrorism literature in predicting violence. Our research hypothesis was that high scores for identity fusion – an extreme form of group alignment whereby personal and group identities become functionally equivalent – in combination with additional variables would result in manifestos being more strongly associated with actual acts of violent extremism. The NLP analysis confirmed our research hypothesis, finding that the linguistic markers of identity fusion, dehumanising language towards the out-group and violence condoning norms were statistically significantly higher in manifestos of authors who engaged in acts of violent extremism. Building on our qualitative text analysis of terrorist manifestos (Ebner, Kavanagh, & Whitehouse, 2022), this study is among the first to offer a statistical analysis of the narrative patterns and associated linguistic markers distilled from terrorist manifestos. Beyond its academic contribution, the assessment framework developed here might assist security and coun- ter-terrorism professionals in using psycholinguistic indicators to estimate the risk that online users will engage in offline violence and to make decisions on internal resource allocation in ongoing investigations.
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