(Ebook) The Psychology of Extremism: A Motivational Perspective (Frontiers of Social Psychology) by Arie W. Kruglanski, Catalina E. Kopetz, Ewa Szumowska ISBN 9780367467623, 0367467623

(Ebook) The Psychology of Extremism: A Motivational Perspective (Frontiers of Social Psychology) by Arie W. Kruglanski, Catalina E. Kopetz, Ewa Szumowska ISBN 9780367467623, 0367467623

This ground-breaking book introduces a new model
of extremism that emphasizes motivational imbalance among individual
needs, offering a unique multidisciplinary exploration of extreme
behaviors relating to terrorism, dieting, sports, love, addictions, and
money.

In popular discourse, the term ‘extremism’ has come to
mean largely ‘violent extremism’, but this is just one of many different
types: extreme sports, extreme diets, political and religious
extremisms, extreme self-interest, extreme attitudes, extreme devotion
to a cause, addiction to substances, or behavioral addiction (to
videogames, shopping, pornography, sex, and work). But do these
descriptions have a deeper meaning? Do they reveal a common
psychological dynamic? Or are they merely a mode of things about
phenomena that have little in common? Bringing together world-leading
psychologists from a variety of disciplines, the book uses a brand-new
model to examine different expressions of extremism, at different levels
of analysis (brain, hormones, and behavior), in order not merely to
describe such behaviors but also to explain their occurrence, and the
conditions under which they may be likely to emerge.

Also
including suggestions for ways in which extremism could be counteracted,
and to what extent it appears to be harmful to individuals and society,
this is essential reading for students and academics in psychology and
behavioral sciences.