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Capturing violent radicalization: Developing and validating scales measuring central aspects of radicalization
Author(s) -
Ozer Simon,
Bertelsen Preben
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/sjop.12484
Subject(s) - radicalization , violent extremism , terrorism , psychology , equivalence (formal languages) , social psychology , face (sociological concept) , empirical research , criminology , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , political science , social science , epistemology , sociology , law , medical emergency , philosophy , linguistics , medicine
Violent radicalization has emerged as an important topic of theoretical and empirical investigation motivated by the devastating face of terrorism and by the aim of preventing such expressions of extremism. One central aspect of such research inquiries is the foundation of solid measurement. In this article, we develop and validate two generic scales pertaining to (1) endorsement of extremism and (2) acceptance of violent and/or illegal means. In conclusion, the scales yielded sound psychometric properties and cross‐cultural equivalence, providing a solid measure of the important aspects of extremism which can be empirically employed in elucidating generic mechanisms of violent radicalization processes.