Terrorism poses a significant challenge for psychology. Motivation to engage in such violent and anti-nonnative behavior has yet to be understood. The two studies described in the present thesis examined what psychological motivations might account for peoples' involvement in terrorism. Study 1 explored the collective narratives of participants with ties to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Participants' narratives conveyed the explicit theme of justice and the implicit theme of identity as motives for extreme violence. Based on these findings, study 2 investigated if social identity and justice motives would exceed a control condition in inciting participation in terrorism. In a laboratory setting, participants were recruited to partake in a fictitious terrorism plot. Recruitment that emphasized social identity motives was relatively more compelling for participants than justice motives. Results for both studies warrant further research into the psychological role that justice and identity might play in the use terrorism.

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Two hundred and fifty-three subjects were used in an experiment to try to determine how differences in news media presentations affect the reader's view of terrorism. Two stories about a terrorist attack were used, one describing a bombing, the other a hijacking. Both stories had two versions using no one injured or eight innocent people injured. One group of subjects was given no additional information about terrorism. The second group was given information after the description that emphasized the salience of terrorism. The third group received information that de-emphasized the seriousness of terrorism. Subjects were also given a questionnaire designed to measure authoritarianism and one to measure conservatism. It was found that subjects scoring high on authoritarianism or conservativism favored more severe punishment for terrorists than did those scoring lower on the two scales. Findings did not support the hypothesis that providing people with information about terrorism could lessen the impact of terrorist events.

Tactical and incident commanders make decisions in the high-threat law enforcement context of hostage rescue, armed barricaded suspects, and armed suicidal individuals that can result in successful or catastrophic outcomes. This qualitative study offers more evidence—as an integral part of emerging research on education and reaching effective decisions to the current literature—by extending and detailing the decision-making process of commanders that occurs during a high-threat incident. It describes the experience and methods of making decisions in this environment. Furthermore, areas addressed by this research include learning strategies that could better prepare commanders in the processing of information, while optimizing speed and accuracy in decision-making. Particular attention was paid to the role of adaptive expertise in decision-making by understanding how mental models of recurring patterns, necessary for effective situational assessments, are created and subsequently retrieved. The purpose of this study was to explore through interviews, a survey, and focus groups how experienced tactical and incident commanders describe making decisions, and the factors impacting these decisions during events involving hostage rescue, armed barricaded suspects, and armed suicidal individuals. Participants described the necessity of having to adjust their decision-making process frequently in a high-threat situation. This process includes asking strategic questions to obtain actionable intelligence for making sound decisions when this information is not readily provided. Principal factors enabling participants to make sound decisions are good intelligence, the ability to make accurate situational assessments, and having sufficient resources. Additionally, experience as a prior team member and/or team leader, along with previous command mentoring are the key learning strategies that help or hinder participants when making decisions. A key practice recommendation resulting from this study is that command training programs should focus on adaptive decision-making and the critical aspect of determining safety and threat levels through reliable intelligence and good communication. This recommendation can benefit individual commanders, law enforcement agencies, and the communities they serve if improved command decision-making strategies result in fewer lives lost in a high-threatsituation.

The purpose of the study was to record the post-traumatic symptoms resulting from the September 11th tragedy, as observed in students by their teachers and counselors throughout a six-month period.