A Life of Difference: Cognitive and Emotional Catalysts for Incel Mass-Causality Violence

• In Event: A Life-Course Criminological Perspective on Violent Extremism

Abstract

Objective: Much of the literature on extremist mass-casualty violence has focused on the changing nature of microstructural aspects that occur during a person’s life course, such as experiences with trauma, unemployment, and mental illness. Despite the importance of these findings, the varied explanations do little to describe the cognitive and emotional aspects of extremist radicalization.

Methods: The current study addresses this gap by utilizing the circumplex model of affect to analyze Elliot Rodger’s incel manifesto.

Findings: Our findings highlight interpersonal grievances such as sexual rejection, social isolation, and masculinity challenges, as well as critical emotional markers - displeasure, unpleasant activation, and activated displeasure - prominently characterize Elliot Rodger’s incel manifesto.

Conclusions: By investigating the complex interactional process by which structural, emotional, and cognitive factors interact as part of an individual’s radicalization pathway, our project moves beyond overly structural models of radicalization that treat rational (cognitive) and irrational (emotional) behavior as mutually exclusive.

Authors

• Steven Windisch, Temple University

• Courtney Kater, Temple University