Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups
Conference object (Published version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Radicalization and violent extremism have been operationalized through three-dimensional Militant-Extremist Mindset (MEM), including Pro-violence (PV) – acceptance, justification, and advocacy of the use of violence, Vile World (VW) – the belief there is something wrong with the world we live in, and that the present-day world is vile and miserable, and Divine Power (DP) – beliefs in heaven and God, the role of martyrdom, and afterlife. This construct proved to be predictive for a variety of socially relevant outcomes. The present study explores the predictive power of MEM for social distance toward four ethnic groups – Bosniaks, Croats, Albanians, and Roma - the groups with which Serbs share difficult history or are stigmatized in Serbian society. A total of 173 Belgrade high schoolers between 15 and 18 years of age (M=16.54, SD=0.63; 70.5% females) completed a 24-item version of the MEM scale along with the adapted four-item measure of social distance for each of the groups. We obser...ved the most pronounced social distance toward Albanians and Roma (p<.001), followed by Croats (p<.001), while the lowest social distance was observed for Bosniaks (p<.001) [F(3,516)=88.65, p<.001, ηp2=.34]. Social distance measures toward four ethnic groups showed to be moderately to highly correlated (r=.518–.718, p<.001). Regression analyses showed that three factors of MEM accounted for 15.3% of the variance of social distance toward Bosniaks [F(3,169)=10.19, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.314, p<.001), DP (β=.200, p=.006)], 20.8% of the variance of social distance toward Albanians [F(3,169)=14.77, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.268, p<.001), DP (β=.339, p<.001)], 21.4% for Croats [F(3,169)=15.38, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.329, p<.001), DP (β=.325, p<.001)], and 15.7% of the variance of social distance toward Roma [F(3,169)=10.48, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.250, p=.001), DP (β=.279, p<.001)]. In sum, two out of three factors of militant extremist mindset – apologetic attitude towards violent acts and trust in divine power – proved to be significantly related to more distance towards adversarial ethnic groups, whilst, somewhat unexpectedly, belief in vile world was unrelated to it. If MEM is seen as a more dispositional measure, these findings go to show its’ usefulness in predicting very specific intergroup outcomes.
Keywords:
proviolence / divine power / social distance / ethnic minorities / militant-extremist mindset (mem)Source:
Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar, 2020, 129-129Funding / projects:
- Identification, measurement and development of the cognitive and emotional competences important for a Europe-oriented society (RS-179018)
Institution/Community
Psihologija / PsychologyTY - CONF AU - Nicović, Aleksandra AU - Živanović, Marko AU - Vukčević Marković, Maša AU - Žeželj, Iris PY - 2020 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4862 AB - Radicalization and violent extremism have been operationalized through three-dimensional Militant-Extremist Mindset (MEM), including Pro-violence (PV) – acceptance, justification, and advocacy of the use of violence, Vile World (VW) – the belief there is something wrong with the world we live in, and that the present-day world is vile and miserable, and Divine Power (DP) – beliefs in heaven and God, the role of martyrdom, and afterlife. This construct proved to be predictive for a variety of socially relevant outcomes. The present study explores the predictive power of MEM for social distance toward four ethnic groups – Bosniaks, Croats, Albanians, and Roma - the groups with which Serbs share difficult history or are stigmatized in Serbian society. A total of 173 Belgrade high schoolers between 15 and 18 years of age (M=16.54, SD=0.63; 70.5% females) completed a 24-item version of the MEM scale along with the adapted four-item measure of social distance for each of the groups. We observed the most pronounced social distance toward Albanians and Roma (p<.001), followed by Croats (p<.001), while the lowest social distance was observed for Bosniaks (p<.001) [F(3,516)=88.65, p<.001, ηp2=.34]. Social distance measures toward four ethnic groups showed to be moderately to highly correlated (r=.518–.718, p<.001). Regression analyses showed that three factors of MEM accounted for 15.3% of the variance of social distance toward Bosniaks [F(3,169)=10.19, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.314, p<.001), DP (β=.200, p=.006)], 20.8% of the variance of social distance toward Albanians [F(3,169)=14.77, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.268, p<.001), DP (β=.339, p<.001)], 21.4% for Croats [F(3,169)=15.38, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.329, p<.001), DP (β=.325, p<.001)], and 15.7% of the variance of social distance toward Roma [F(3,169)=10.48, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.250, p=.001), DP (β=.279, p<.001)]. In sum, two out of three factors of militant extremist mindset – apologetic attitude towards violent acts and trust in divine power – proved to be significantly related to more distance towards adversarial ethnic groups, whilst, somewhat unexpectedly, belief in vile world was unrelated to it. If MEM is seen as a more dispositional measure, these findings go to show its’ usefulness in predicting very specific intergroup outcomes. C3 - Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar T1 - Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups EP - 129 SP - 129 UR - https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862 ER -
@conference{ author = "Nicović, Aleksandra and Živanović, Marko and Vukčević Marković, Maša and Žeželj, Iris", year = "2020", abstract = "Radicalization and violent extremism have been operationalized through three-dimensional Militant-Extremist Mindset (MEM), including Pro-violence (PV) – acceptance, justification, and advocacy of the use of violence, Vile World (VW) – the belief there is something wrong with the world we live in, and that the present-day world is vile and miserable, and Divine Power (DP) – beliefs in heaven and God, the role of martyrdom, and afterlife. This construct proved to be predictive for a variety of socially relevant outcomes. The present study explores the predictive power of MEM for social distance toward four ethnic groups – Bosniaks, Croats, Albanians, and Roma - the groups with which Serbs share difficult history or are stigmatized in Serbian society. A total of 173 Belgrade high schoolers between 15 and 18 years of age (M=16.54, SD=0.63; 70.5% females) completed a 24-item version of the MEM scale along with the adapted four-item measure of social distance for each of the groups. We observed the most pronounced social distance toward Albanians and Roma (p<.001), followed by Croats (p<.001), while the lowest social distance was observed for Bosniaks (p<.001) [F(3,516)=88.65, p<.001, ηp2=.34]. Social distance measures toward four ethnic groups showed to be moderately to highly correlated (r=.518–.718, p<.001). Regression analyses showed that three factors of MEM accounted for 15.3% of the variance of social distance toward Bosniaks [F(3,169)=10.19, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.314, p<.001), DP (β=.200, p=.006)], 20.8% of the variance of social distance toward Albanians [F(3,169)=14.77, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.268, p<.001), DP (β=.339, p<.001)], 21.4% for Croats [F(3,169)=15.38, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.329, p<.001), DP (β=.325, p<.001)], and 15.7% of the variance of social distance toward Roma [F(3,169)=10.48, p<.001; significant predictors PV (β=.250, p=.001), DP (β=.279, p<.001)]. In sum, two out of three factors of militant extremist mindset – apologetic attitude towards violent acts and trust in divine power – proved to be significantly related to more distance towards adversarial ethnic groups, whilst, somewhat unexpectedly, belief in vile world was unrelated to it. If MEM is seen as a more dispositional measure, these findings go to show its’ usefulness in predicting very specific intergroup outcomes.", journal = "Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar", title = "Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups", pages = "129-129", url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862" }
Nicović, A., Živanović, M., Vukčević Marković, M.,& Žeželj, I.. (2020). Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups. in Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar, 129-129. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862
Nicović A, Živanović M, Vukčević Marković M, Žeželj I. Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups. in Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar. 2020;:129-129. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862 .
Nicović, Aleksandra, Živanović, Marko, Vukčević Marković, Maša, Žeželj, Iris, "Militant extremist mindset predicts higher social distance towards adversarial ethnic groups" in Book of abstracts - 22. Psychology Days in Zadar (2020):129-129, https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_4862 .