Psychological Determinants of Young People's Attitudes towards Extremist Activity

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of psychological determinants of young people's intolerant behavior towards individuals of other cultures and ethnic groups as a prerequisite to one's inclination to extremist activity. Theoretical analysis revealed that a tendency towards extremist activity is formed from cognitive and behavioral manifestations such as low awareness of the problem of extremism, rejection of other values and cultures, negative attitudes towards other ethnic groups and difficulties in determining legitimacy of one's actions. The empirical study was conducted on a sample of young people from Kaluga aged 18-25. The Volitional Control Questionnaire, the Big Five Personality Inventory and a specially developed questionnaire have been used. It has been established that a large part of the youth is informed about the manifestations of extremism but isn't fully aware of the severity of such crimes. A link between behavioral and cognitive manifestations related to extremism with certain personality determinants such as high sensitivity, inadequate self-assessment, insufficient maturity of outlook-related attitudes, lack of goodwill and rigidity of opinions is demonstrated.

Keywords

• extremism
• youth extremism
• cyber and psychological safety
• psychological influence
• extremist activity