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Cognitive Inflexibility Predicts Extremist Attitudes.

Leor Zmigrod^1,2, Peter Jason Rentfrow¹, Trevor W Robbins^1,2

¹Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Frontiers in Psychology

|May 29, 2019

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Cognitive inflexibility, a rigid thinking style, predicts extremist attitudes and willingness to engage in violence for an ideological cause. This finding highlights the role of individual cognitive differences in radicalization.

Keywords:

cognitive flexibility extremism identity fusion ideology intergroup attitudes

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Area of Science:

Social Psychology
Cognitive Science
Neuroscience

Background:

Traditional research on ideological extremism focuses on social, economic, and demographic factors.
Limited empirical work exists on individual cognitive differences, such as information processing styles, that may increase susceptibility to extremism.
Understanding the cognitive underpinnings of extremist attitudes is crucial for developing effective interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between cognitive inflexibility and extremist attitudes.
To determine if cognitive inflexibility predicts endorsement of violence and willingness to die for an ideological group.
To explore the specific role of cognitive rigidity as a precursor to extremist beliefs.

Main Methods:

Employed objective cognitive assessments to measure individual differences in cognition.
Utilized structural equation modeling with two large samples (N = 1,047) from the UK and US.
Analyzed participants' performance on cognitive tasks, including a trolley problem scenario.

Main Results:

Cognitive inflexibility significantly predicted endorsement of violence to protect the national ingroup.
Cognitive inflexibility was a strong predictor of willingness to die for the group, explaining a substantial portion of variance.
Cognitive rigidity, specifically, was implicated as a cognitive antecedent of extremist attitudes, independent of other cognitive factors.

Conclusions:

Cognitive inflexibility is a significant predictor of extremist attitudes and willingness to engage in extreme actions.
Findings suggest a neurocognitive basis for radicalization and identity fusion.
Highlights the importance of considering individual cognitive styles in understanding and addressing ideological extremism.