Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 5, 2025

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
The relationship between closed-mindedness and militant extremism in a post-conflict society
Goran Knežević1, Ljiljana B Lazarevic2, Janko Međedović3
1Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
Abstract:
This study aimed to examine the role of socio-political attitudes and motivational tendencies supposed to mark closed-mindedness, as well as other relevant variables of individual differences (Disintegration, i.e., proneness to psychotic-like experiences/behaviors and Death Anxiety), in the Militant Extremist Mindset (MEM). A community sample of 600 young respondents (Serbs, Bosniaks, and Albanians, aged 18-30) was recruited within a multiethnic region of Serbia that experienced armed conflict during the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. The best-fitted SEM model, incorporating measurement and structural relationships between the variables, showed that the latent factor of Closed-mindedness predicted all three aspects of MEM as well as Neighborhood Grudge, that is, resentment toward neighboring ethnicities. The effects of Disintegration and Death Anxiety on MEM were entirely mediated by Closed-mindedness. Compared to previous findings, Closed-mindedness appears to represent the most important set of cognitive and motivational tendencies that channel protracted intergroup tensions into militant extremism.
More Related Videos
04:02Author Spotlight: Developing Precise and Clinically Relevant Models for Studying Secondary Degeneration in Traumatic Optic Neuropathy
Published on: November 29, 2024
13:28Three-dimensional Confocal Analysis of Microglia/macrophage Markers of Polarization in Experimental Brain Injury
Published on: September 4, 2013
Related Concept Videos
Group Polarization
Groupthink
Cognitive Dissonance
Motivational Bias
Stereotype Content Model
Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other