What Terrorism Hides: Understanding the Psychology of Terrorism as a Measure to Prevent It

This chapter examines terrorism as a phenomenon through the metaphor of an iceberg, including possible methods for its prevention. To this end, its history and the reasons for the impossibility of providing a universal definition are briefly discussed. A defining characteristic of modern terrorism is highlighted: the desire to maximize intimidation through physical and psychological influence on the weakest and the most vulnerable segments of the population. This strategy is reinforced through the intensive use of social media for recruitment, preparation of terrorist attacks, and the amplification of fear through the rapid dissemination of news. The key psychological traits that predispose individuals to terrorism include a distorted perception of reality and one’s place within it, radical beliefs paired with a willingness to engage in extreme actions, and a tendency toward fanaticism, or utopian thinking, the presence of a mythologized consciousness which perceives the world as inherently threatening, along with social polarization and the framing of “the other” as an “enemy.” These traits are marked by an uncompromising attitude toward opponents, and a desire to impose one’s values on others. Utopianism of consciousness is particularly highlighted. Preventive measures are proposed to prevent the development of this undesirable feature, namely the use of concepts of the dominant in the other’s face (A.A. Ukhtomsky), the opposition of abstract utopianism to the concrete, proposed by E. Bloch in “The Philosophy of Hope,” the philosophy of action and dialogism of M.M. Bakhtin and the related attention to the world of M.M. Prishvin and K.G. Paustovsky.