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Support for Political Violence and the Ambiguous Role of Empathy

Wed, Nov 13, 3:30 to 4:50pm, Foothill G2 - 2nd Level

Abstract

Objective:
Agnew’s (2010) general strain theory of terrorism has been critiqued as over-predictive of political violence. Recent applications have augmented the model by incorporating known risk factors, shifting the unit of analysis, and exploring conditional relationships between strain and political violence. This study takes a similar approach and integrates the potential ambivalent effect of empathy on support for political violence.

Data and Methods:
This study relies on original data from a representative sample of (n=1000) U.S. adults (18+). Using a survey experiment, the study estimates the divergent effects of in-group, and out-group empathy on support for political violence using vignettes to induce greater in-group and out-group empathy. Additionally, the broader augmented model of strain is estimated using structural equation modeling (SEM) to explicitly consider the role of mediation pathways between strain, aggression, empathy, and support for political violence.

Results:
The results provide novel empirical evidence and suggest both 1) a more specific measurement approach to the general strain theory of terrorism, and 2) mitigate the risk of type 1 error (i.e., overprediction) when known risk factors are integrated into the model.

Conclusion:
The presentation concludes with a discussion of limitations (in particular, ecological validity), and avenues of future research.

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