NCJ Number
72534
Date Published
1978
Length
9 pages
Annotation
A description of psychological behavioral patterns of West German terrorists, analysis of this behavior, and measures to prevent a state of mind receptive to terrorist ideas are presented.
Abstract
Assessment of the actual psychological problems of terrorists are rare, as no terrorist to date has agreed to talk to a psychiatrist, and idealistic terrorists are possible. First, terrorists tend to suffer from a lack of meaningful experiences, despite families which are intact and offer numerous material advantages. Terrorists display an aversion to the reality recognized by the population at large and use an abstract, depresonalized level of language which suggests that feeling and thinking have become one. The individual personality is sacrificed to the group objectives, although not without ambivalence. Aggression is accepted as an expression of the need for action; individual hostilities are acted out under the pretext of moral outrage. The actual underlying causes of terrorism would appear to be fascination with the possibility of resolving all problems through technical means, boredom, and the satisfaction derived from a feeling of omnipotence. The problem is aggravated by the inability of many young people to understand ideas in a historical context. Proposed preventive measures include monitoring by the media of the manner in which they present violent events and of the level of language employed in reporting. A sensible conception of authority is deemed the prerequisite for critical thinking and decisiveness in nonagressive action. --in German.