The Role of Personality Dimensions in The Motivation for Contemporary Terrorism

• In Event: Developing Trajectories in Understanding and Countering Terrorism

Abstract

There is an on-going debate about the role of personality disorders in explaining why individuals choose to engage in terrorism generally. The traditional perspective that the mental health profiles of those engage in this violence are no different than non-terrorists is increasingly challenged by more recent research & theorizing. The later perspective has not been fully explicated. This paper will review the research on a personality disorder perspective & assert its theoretical utility.

Authors

• Raymond Corrado, Simon Fraser University

• Garth Davies, Simon Fraser University