Psychology of terrorism at the present stage. Psychological characteristics of a terrorist. About the Western way of life

What prompts a person to engage in terrorist activities, what motives push him to become members of a terrorist organization? The answer to this question should be sought in the depths of his psychology. Of course, of course, there are social, political, economic and many other reasons that give rise to terrorism, but they are all refracted in the individual and the presence of certain personal factors, psychological mechanisms, personal predisposition, ultimately lead a person to the ranks of terrorists.

One cannot but agree with the opinion of a well-known specialist in the field of psychology of terrorism, Professor D.V. Olshansky, who believes that terrorism is a weapon of the weak, either physically, materially weak, or spiritually, psychologically.

Psychologists identify a number of personal predispositions that often become incentives for individuals to take the path of terrorism: hyper-focus on protecting one’s “I” through projection with constant aggressive-defensive readiness; insufficient personal identity, low self-esteem, elements of split personality; a strong need to join a group, that is, group identification or belonging; experiencing a large degree of social injustice with a tendency to project the reasons for one’s failures onto society; social isolation and alienation, a feeling of being on the margins of society and loss of life prospects. At the same time, it cannot be said that the given set of these characteristics is some kind of generalized psychological profile of the terrorist’s personality. In some cases, political and ideological motives for joining a terrorist group are important. But, they are more often a form of rationalization of deeper personal motives - the desire to strengthen personal identity and, most importantly, the need to belong to a group.

A terrorist group, in a psychological sense, removes the incompleteness or fragmentation of an individual’s psychosocial identity. It becomes for him a stabilizing psychological basis, allowing him to feel like a holistic person, an important component of his self-awareness and finding the meaning of life, a powerful mechanism of spiritual, value and behavioral stereotyping.

The personality of a terrorist is characterized by a negative attitude, which arises under the influence of a number of factors. First of all, these include the discrepancy between the image of the ideal model of the world and oneself in reality and the possibilities of self-realization. This contradiction with the ideal is transformed into a subjective feeling of personal and social inadequacy; As a result, the terrorist’s personality is characterized by the position “I am good, the world is bad.” This position becomes a means of moral self-defense, allowing one to justify any destructive actions. Thus, the activities of terrorists take on the character of destructive self-realization. At the same time, through denial, a new speculative concept of self-confidence is born, which minimizes the possibility of a positive impact on a terrorist group and an individual terrorist. Avdeev Yu. I., Features of modern international terrorism and some legal problems in the fight against it http://www.waaf .ru/3x.htm.

It is clear that terrorism is caused by a complex of factors. Future terrorists embark on this path under the influence of society, family and the media - they are most influenced by ideas that are fashionable in a given environment. Religious affiliation is only one, albeit quite important, factor here. Religious views allow leaders of terrorist organizations to more easily recruit new supporters and provide an ideological basis for their actions. But, at the same time, each terrorist group pursues specific political goals. The combination of sacred religious commandments and momentary political goals is inherently absurd, but adherents of terrorist ideology are not embarrassed by this contradiction.

Terrorism is powerful because terrorists usually have nothing to lose. In the vast majority of cases, they are influenced by religion or other ideologies that glorify martyrdom and self-sacrifice.

In addition to personal factors, there are also a number of socio-psychological factors that ensure involvement in terrorist activities.

Among them, the following can be distinguished: the use of various kinds of psychotechnologies aimed at “brainwashing” (suggestion, indoctrination, zombies, etc.); a group identification mechanism that provides people with flawed self-esteem with the opportunity to feel like a full-fledged individual, joining the number of “the chosen ones, called to correct the world”; deindividuation of the psyche - a “group thought” arises, the content of which, without criticism and any attempt at independence, is shared by the members of the group (Confrontation determines the main content of this thought. The whole world is divided into “ours” and “not ours.” Everything that comes from “ours” ", any of their statements and actions are completely approved. Everything that comes from “not ours” is a priori condemned and declared vicious; any information that contradicts such an ironclad installation is blocked and not perceived); conflict situations, especially confrontations with law enforcement agencies, quite often criminal and antisocial experience; personal connections with members of terrorist organizations.

Effective prevention of terrorist incidents and effective counter-terrorism measures require mandatory consideration of the personality typology of terrorists. A terrorist organization, like any other criminal organization, has a complex hierarchical structure and at its various levels there are various people, each of which has certain individual characteristics. But terrorist activity, like any other type of activity, leads to the fact that the people who engage in it develop certain typical modes of behavior, typical personality traits. And the very inclusion in a terrorist organization already presupposes the presence of certain personality characteristics typical for a particular hierarchical level.

Summarizing various psychological studies of the problems of terrorism, we can propose the following classification of the personality of terrorists:

1. “Organizers are inspirers.”

The first category consists of genetic terrorists, or people prone to terrorism from birth. From the standpoint of modern medical knowledge, it can be confidently stated that genetic terrorists have congenital or early acquired defects in the deep structures of the brain, as a result of which they contain a combination of sadistic traits and an irrepressible thirst for power that is tragic for the rest of humanity. Moreover, power is secret and achieved not by gradually climbing the political or social career ladder, but by immediate power, obtained by intimidating the surrounding micro- or macro-world, through the horror that their inhuman acts cause. But no terrorist currently wants to remain in complete secrecy. And although the leaders of terrorism carefully hide from human eyes, it has now become customary to take responsibility for each specific terrorist attack and thus proclaim their power over the world. Not personal, but collective power of a certain terrorist group.

a) ideologue fanatics are the most dangerous type of terrorist, guided by their own convictions (religious, ideological, political) and sincerely convinced of the necessity of their actions, the correctness of their views, their own infallibility, and the ability to control the destinies of people. As a rule, this category differs quite high level intelligence, the ability to effectively exert psychological influence on other people, eloquence.
b) direct organizers - a more balanced and cold-blooded type, engaged not so much in ideological support and emotional energy, but in thinking through and planning terrorist activities and specific terrorist attacks. A leader who prefers to remain in the shadows.
c) demonstrative type - the type of an outspoken combat leader, a vain and narcissistic “brave fighter”. Self-indulgence with complete contempt for everything and everyone. Self-confidence to the point of delusions of grandeur.
2. "Providers".

The second category consists of people who are ready to make money in any way, who understand the illegality or criminality of their actions, but do not burden their conscience with any doubts. Their psychological portrait is mosaic and has a lot of shades depending on what function these people perform in the cause of terror. But, as a rule, they all have one thing in common - a purely selfish motivation for behavior. Although, of course, there may be some exceptions.

a) recruiters - since the path to terrorists is not so easy to find, it is necessary to monitor potential candidates, select and recruit them. Special recruiters help fill the ranks of a terrorist organization. This category of people is distinguished by high sociability, the ability to easily enter into psychological contact, and has the skills of psychotechnologies and suggestive influence.

They pay by the piece and the recruiters work tirelessly, looking for military experts who are dissatisfied with their lives, lovers of adventure, people simply greedy for money without morals and principles, people without a stable worldview, with serious personal problems, psychological trauma. They manage to lure some, and force others through threats or blackmail to come to the service of terrorism.

b) developers of terrorist attacks - the overwhelming majority are former military experts who have undergone good sabotage training in one of the intelligence services, and sometimes even in the intelligence services of two or more countries. Many years of sabotage, and even anti-terrorism activities, form in them psychological traits inherent in the terrorists themselves. In principle, these military experts are distinguished from terrorists only by the social orientation of the individual.
c) “teachers - educators” - are on the same level as the developers of terrorist attacks. These are instructors in all types of terrorist activities. More often than not, this too former employees intelligence agencies rushing for big money. And just like the developers of terrorist attacks, the “teachers-educators” of terrorists, in fact, professional activity does not change. It’s just that before, they taught people to fight terrorists, and now, based on their past experience, they teach them to resist former students.
d) technologists - members of a terrorist organization whose functions are to provide technical support for carrying out terrorist attacks. They have technical and other skills that allow them to construct explosive devices and create conditions for the commission of specific terrorist actions. Someone prepares false documents for terrorists, someone provides them with transport, plane tickets, housing, and warehouses for explosives.
3. "Performers".

The next basic category consists of people who previously did not even think about terror, but who were involved in the process of terror by someone or some circumstances. Already, being “initiated”, they gain confidence, often fanatical, in the necessity of their participation in terrorist actions and gradually “get a taste” for terrorist activities.

This type of terrorist is at the lowest level of the hierarchical ladder of a terrorist organization and represents the direct perpetrators of terrorist attacks. These are the people who deliver explosives to the place of their use, the conductors of the suicide bombers, the controllers of the execution of the terrorist attack, the people who press the remote control buttons (if the suicide bombers for some reason do not do this). Finally, in fact, suicide bombers and suicide bombers, below whom there is no one and cannot be.

a) aggressive type - these people have an aggressive passion for violence, murder, destruction and intimidation that prevails over everything. Terror is the main way of emotional satisfaction. Among this category, one can distinguish the type of “scumbag” - absolutely immoral, predatory, working for a fee, who does not care who he cuts or shoots.
b) adventurous type - a person who does not have stable political guidelines and firm political convictions, but is obsessed with delusions of grandeur and a thirst for, albeit scandalous, fame, whose life element is risk and danger. As a rule, this type, unlike others, acts alone, which makes it difficult to identify it and apply preventive measures to it.
c) the fanatical type is one of the most dangerous types of terrorists, since when going to commit a terrorist attack, he is in advance and consciously prepared for his own death, and therefore the least predictable and least amenable to preventive measures. Despite the universality of ideological and political motives and orientations, the most common type of terrorist fanatic is a religious fanatic, regardless of his specific religious affiliation.
d) the zombie type is the type of ideal performer of deadly tasks. Acts like a programmed machine. We are extremely suggestible. When performing a task, as a rule, he does not feel a sense of fear, is quick and quick-witted, in life he is most often an unadapted, defeated and faceless subject.
e) vengeful type - the leading motive is based on personal enmity and revenge - for oneself, for relatives or friends, co-religionists. Adolescents and women are found within this type with increased frequency.

Within the last three types of “perpetrators” given above, one can also distinguish a very specific type of terrorist - a suicide bomber.

IN last years Terrorist organizations increasingly began to use a method of struggle, the effectiveness of which exceeds the effectiveness of any missile and bomb strikes in terms of the direction of action and the costs of its implementation. The difference is the inevitable death of a person who is also a “delivery vehicle.” At the same time, we have to admit: world experience shows that it is almost impossible to prevent the actions of a suicide bomber.

Suicide bombers do not work alone. There is always some group behind them. The use of suicide bombers gives her a huge advantage over the enemy. This advantage is as follows: firstly, such actions almost always lead to numerous victims. Secondly, they are always the focus of the media because they symbolize the rebels' determination to sacrifice themselves. Third, the use of suicide tactics ensures that the attack will take place at the most opportune moment, taking into account the situation and the location of the target to strike. Time bombs or remote controlled bombs are not as advanced. Fourthly, there is no need to prepare escape routes. Fifthly, there is no fear that the criminal will fall into the hands of the enemy and betray his employers.

Well, the suicide himself - what is his motivation? According to experts, they are most often driven by religious fanaticism, nationalist extremism and the desire for revenge. These people are driven by the desire to die and kill. For a person to become a suicide bomber, he must feel either completely weak or almost “god”. One of the internal motives of such a crime is to feel one’s own omnipotence, to cope with helplessness. Such people are characterized by extreme experiences - envy and resentment. They envy those who live better, they are offended by them. For them, absolute evil reigns in the world.

Most often, the suicide bomber does not offer to sacrifice himself. He is selected by a “spiritual guide” or commander. Then comes a rather long period of preparation, including psychological preparation. Future suicide bombers are trained, as a rule, in a number of countries in the Middle East, Transcaucasia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Defusing a suicidal terrorist is extremely difficult. After all, he is ready to die. The only remedy, against this evil - the effective work of security services. Experts believe that a terrorist is simply psychologically unable to be ready to commit suicide every second. He cannot constantly keep his finger on the detonation button, because in this case a premature explosion is inevitable. It is estimated that a terrorist needs at least half a minute to prepare himself for suicide. These half a minute are decisive for professionals.

The psychological paradox is that some suicide bombers consider themselves “honest and ideological fighters of the terrorist front,” naively believing that all their activities take place in the name of Islam, in the name of Allah or in the name of some “noble” ideas from their point of view. On the contrary, for those forcibly involved in this activity through threats and blackmail, even special drug-sex-psychological treatment does not always erase in the brain the universal human understanding of the entire abomination of terrorist activity. Killing yourself turns out to be not so easy. That is why the ideologists of terrorism began to involve young children in terrorist activities, with early childhood instilling in them a readiness to die in the name of terrorist goals, replacing children's consciousness These goals are the holy name of Allah for Muslims.

It is quite difficult to give a generalized psychological portrait of a terrorist, but an analysis of various psychological studies devoted to this problem allows us to highlight the following most character traits terrorists' identities:

1. An inferiority complex, manifested in the inferiority of the individual. It is most often the cause of aggression and harsh behavior, which act as compensation mechanisms.
2. Low self-identity and low self-esteem. A terrorist group helps an individual get rid of the lack of psychosocial identification, serving as a psychostabilizing factor.
3. Self-justification. Political-ideological motives, as a rule, are a form of rationalization of hidden personal needs.
4. Personal and emotional immaturity. Most terrorists are characterized by maximalism, absolutism, which is often the result of a superficial perception of reality, and theoretical and political amateurism.
5. Aggressive paranoia, a tendency to blame circumstances for one’s own failures and search for external factors to explain one’s own inadequacy.
6. The overwhelming number of terrorists are characterized by blind devotion to the terrorist organization, its tasks and ideals.
7. The performer type is characterized by a low educational level, weak cognitive interests, and insufficiently developed intelligence.
8. Bitterness of the individual, associated with the fact that, as a rule, terrorists become people who come from dysfunctional families, single-parent families, who have socio-pathological personality development, people who have not found themselves in society, who do not have or have lost jobs, who have lost loved ones, who have stable antisocial contacts, persons with disabilities physical capabilities, persons who have experienced severe psychotrauma, children.
9. All are characterized by high aggressiveness, constant readiness to defend their “I”, the desire to assert themselves, excessive self-absorption, little attention to the feelings and desires of other people, fanaticism.
10. All of them are characterized by extreme intolerance to any dissent, hesitation and doubt. Psychologists on terrorism (round table materials). //Psychological Journal, 1995, No. 4.

I would like to emphasize: the threat of terrorism is completely removable. It would be wrong to consider this phenomenon as fatally inevitable. But an indispensable condition for defeating it is the unification of the efforts of all groups and strata of society.

Now it is extremely important to form among citizens a sense of non-acceptance of violence as a method of political struggle, as well as understanding. It is clear that this fight must be waged in the field of education, popular culture, the work of the media, the formation of public opinion, etc. Victory over terrorism is possible only when society desires it.

Psychological terror can begin both in a conflict situation and in close, trusting relationships. What signs can be used to detect the beginning of psychological and moral terror?

Exclusion of an employee from the active life of the company, which is achieved by blocking communication channels: they do not report important information or they inform her too late, do not invite her to important meetings, etc.

Isolating a person from informal personal contacts: they do not say hello, do not invite them to parties, do not share personal news.

Spreading negative information and gossip. Shouting and insults are the apotheosis of moral persecution.

Ignoring success. Common in employee-manager relationships. An “unwanted” employee is not given a salary increase, bonuses are “forgotten”, they are not sent for training, and they are never praised.

Minor dirty tricks: rearranging papers on the desktop, disabling equipment, deleting valuable files.

Bullying that is actively supported by colleagues due to the fact that employees are often afraid to openly sympathize with the victim, so as not to take his place.

Of course, some reactions are caused by an unhealthy psychological atmosphere that reigns in the organization, as well as a thirst for power over others and personal anger dictated by fears or envy; However, strangely enough, victims often unconsciously bring misfortune upon themselves. That is, on the one hand, the mechanism of psychological terror is embedded in the organization, on the other hand, a person with a certain model of behavior will fall into this mechanism: a “scapegoat”.

The scapegoat serves an important psychological function: it allows the group to assert itself and gives it a sense of superiority. In a large social group, the “scapegoat” can be not only one person, but also an entire group (department). Where management uses a “scapegoat” as a tool, the latter becomes a kind of symbol, a sign given from above, signaling in which direction and to whom the team can direct its dissatisfaction and on whom it can “take it out” by blaming it “for everything.” sins and failures." And most importantly, the appearance of a “scapegoat” allows you to place the blame for your own troubles on someone who is currently unable to resist. The presence of a “scapegoat” in a team can be called a disease of a specific social group, the victims of which are people who are morally weak, infantile, and do not have a stable opinion of their own. Most of the “scapegoats” suffer from “painful pride”; they consider it beneath their dignity to enter into disputes with the team. And the more they are proud of their ethics, the more the team tries to “get” them - well, who doesn’t feel offended that they are not respected. Scapegoating usually occurs when members of one group feel threatened but are unable to detect its true source and counter it. Therefore, they choose a victim and “take it out” on her.

"Scapegoat" brings together psychopaths and neurotics. The former (psychopaths) sense very well the weakness of the latter (neurotics) and immediately “beat” them, which intensifies their negative traits: neurotics become even more neurotic, while psychopaths become wild and psychopathic. Everyone gets their share of adrenaline in their group, satisfying the secret need for self-affirmation.

In a “stagnant team”, which already has its own informal leaders, there is “vertical mobbing” of subordinates in relation to the new leader. If the team “didn’t like” him, then you won’t envy him. Any leader who tries to stir up the swamp too actively, to introduce an innovation, will first of all cause fear - the same one that provokes the desire to get rid of its source.

There are many means to achieve such a goal: intimidation, concealment of necessary information, slander, incessant criticism, spreading rumors, ridicule, raised tone, humiliation of dignity.

Bullying refers to the manifestation of psychological terror “one on one”. And although bullying or mobbing may seem quite harmless compared to physical violence, if bullying continues long enough, its consequences are so destructive that some people consider suicide. Anyone with the mentality of a victim can be subject to mobbing and bullying. Such a person can be called a “professional scapegoat”: wherever he goes, his life in the team develops according to the usual scenario - he becomes a victim, because for many “goats” it is better to be a “victim”, but in plain sight, than empty place.

Mobbing and bullying flourish in an organization in which managers and management ignore such behavior of their employees and indulge them, sometimes even indirectly provoking the team themselves. This is why the victim becomes helpless and harassed, and therefore she very rarely manages to get help.

Continuation

The problem of terrorism is an acute problem of our time, because... terrorism poses an extreme danger to all humanity. In a peaceful life, people are focused on socio-cultural development and strive for peace with each other. But terrorist acts interrupt the usual rhythm of people’s lives and cause massive casualties, lead to the destruction of material and spiritual values that sometimes cannot be restored, sow hostility between states, provoke wars, mistrust and hatred between social and national groups, which sometimes cannot be overcome during one’s life. a whole generation. As a specific phenomenon of socio-political life, terrorism has its own long history, without knowledge of which it is difficult to understand the origins and practice of terrorism, although modern terror no longer has its former ideological shell and orientation. There have always been terrorists. From the earliest terrorist group - the Sicarii sect - operating in Palestine in the 1st century new era and exterminated representatives of the Jewish nobility to the “Terrorist Faction” of the People’s Will party and the national liberation movements of our time. From the above it follows that the history of terrorism extends from antiquity to the present day. The goals and motives of this phenomenon have always changed, but the consequences, both physical and psychological, have always had a detrimental effect on all of humanity in general. Many works by such domestic authors as N.V. are devoted to the study of the problems of terrorism. Zhdanov, K.N. Salimov, D.V. Olshansky and others. Terrorism today is a powerful weapon, a tool used not only in the fight against the authorities, but very often by the authorities themselves to achieve their goals. Modern terrorism comes in the form of: international terrorism (terrorist acts on an international scale); domestic political terrorism (terrorist actions directed against the government, any political groups within countries, or aimed at destabilizing the internal situation); criminal terrorism pursuing purely selfish goals. The most dangerous manifestation of our time has become international terrorism, which has recently posed a real threat not only to individual states, but also to international peace and security. Great importance have professional qualifications of special services, they use psychological recommendations in the field of combating terrorism. A factor that indirectly contributes to the development of terrorism or blocks it is the system of attitudes towards this phenomenon in various social groups and the position of the media. Therefore, conducting psychological research into terrorism is very important not only for government agencies providing security, but also for the civilian population. The relevance of the study of this topic is due to the social danger at the present stage of human development caused by terrorism and the need for a constant fight against this phenomenon, which is impossible without conducting psychological research on this topic.

Goal of the work consists in defining psychological patterns terrorist acts. In accordance with the purpose of the study, the tasks were formulated as follows : 1. Conduct a theoretical analysis of the literature on the topic of psychology of terrorism; 2. Identify the main directions for studying the problem of terrorism; 3. Identify and describe the psychological features of the phenomenon of terrorism.

Object of study: terrorism.

Subject of research: psychology of terrorism.

To study the psychology of terrorism, it is necessary to introduce the following basic concepts:

Terrorism is a criminal act consisting of the use of violence or the threat of violence against individuals or a group of individuals, accompanied by intimidation of the population and the deliberate creation of an environment of fear, depression, tension in order to influence decision-making beneficial to terrorists and characterized by an increased public danger and the public nature of its commission.

Terror is a method of action of any entity (state, organization, individual) using force, threat, and inciting fear.

Violence – use physical strength or various kinds of influences in relation to a person or social class to impose one’s will or eliminate opponents.

1. CONCEPT OF TERRORISM

1.1 Definition of terrorism

In modern society there are many different definitions of terrorism. Each approach, defining the phenomenon of terrorism, sets its own specifics. Therefore, there is a need to consider various definitions of the concept of terrorism. In legal literature, terrorism (from the Latin terror - fear, horror) is usually understood as the use of violence or the threat of its use against individuals, groups of individuals or various objects in order to achieve political, economic, ideological and other results beneficial to terrorists. In psychology, the concept of terrorism is understood as the use of extreme forms of violence against citizens in order to achieve certain goals. From the point of view of political psychology, terrorism is a form, a method of socio-political struggle, carried out through the systematic use of unlimited violence or the threat of its use, up to murder, in order to intimidate, suppress and destroy political and other opponents. All these definitions should be understood as a criminal act consisting of the use of violence or the threat of violence against individuals or a group of individuals, accompanied by intimidation of the population and the deliberate creation of a climate of fear, depression, tension in order to influence decision-making that is beneficial to terrorists and differs increased public danger and the public nature of its commission. From the analysis of definitions, we can conclude that terrorism is primarily a criminal act. In modern legal literature devoted to the problems of terrorism, the following distinctive features of terrorism as a criminal act are identified. Firstly, a distinctive feature of terrorism is that it generates a high social danger arising from the commission of general dangerous actions or threats thereof. At the same time, the terrorist’s intent includes causing death to persons who are taken hostage, are located near explosion sites, etc. Secondly, terrorism is distinguished by the public nature of its execution. Other crimes are usually committed without any claim to publicity, but only by informing those persons in whose actions the perpetrators have an interest. Terrorism does not exist without wide publicity, without open presentation of demands. Third, a distinctive feature of terrorism is the deliberate creation of an environment of fear, depression, and tension. At the same time, this climate of fear and tension is created not at the individual or narrow group level, but at the social level and represents an objectively developed socio-psychological factor that influences other individuals and forces them to take any actions in the interests of terrorists or accept their conditions. Ignoring these circumstances leads to the fact that terrorism is sometimes classified as any action that creates fear and anxiety in the social environment. However, terrorism differs from other crimes that generate fear in that here fear does not arise on its own as a result of acts that have received public attention and is created by the perpetrators not for the sake of fear itself, but for other purposes, and serves as a kind of objective lever of targeted influence in which the creation of an environment fear acts not as a goal, but as a means to achieve a goal. Thus, creating a climate of fear is an expression of terrorism, a manifestation of its essence, and not its ultimate goal. Fourth , a distinctive feature of terrorism is that when it is committed, generally dangerous violence is used against some persons or property, and psychological influence in order to induce a certain behavior is exerted on other persons, i.e. violence here influences the decision-making of the victim not directly, but indirectly - through the development (albeit forced) of a volitional decision by the victim himself (individual or legal or a group of persons) due to the created climate of fear and the aspirations of terrorists expressed against this background. When developing the problem of the essence of terrorism, certain difficulties arise. So, G.V. Ovchinnikova notes that the main factor complicating a unified approach to the definition of terrorism and its legal formalization, and thus complicating the development of coordinated international measures to combat it, is the extreme politicization of assessments. Another factor that complicates the development of the problem of the concept of terrorism is the problem of using the concept of terrorism with the concept of terror as synonyms of each other. The definition of terrorism is inextricably linked with the concept of terror, but these words are not synonymous. The main distinguishing feature of terrorism as a phenomenon is that terrorism is a crime, and terror is a method of action of any entity (state, organization, individual) using force, threat, and inciting fear. V.P. Emelyanov compares the concept of “terror” with such “aggression”, “genocide”, “war”, considering terror as mass violence used by subjects of power, and in this regard, considers the concept of “ideological terror”, “state terror”, “extrajudicial terror” , “administrative terror”. It is necessary to take into account that a terrorist act is close in meaning to terrorism, but still does not coincide with it. As noted by V.P. Emelyanov, in many cases their relationship is often presented as a part and a whole, especially when it comes to actually committed violent acts, since in order to recognize an act as a terrorist act it is not necessary that it be committed in a generally dangerous way, threatening to cause harm to an unlimited number of persons or the onset of other grave consequences. Thus, for a terrorist act, all signs of terrorism are mandatory, with the exception of the first - creating a public danger, although its presence is not excluded. At the same time, according to the author, in their entirety, terrorism and a terrorist act constitute a more general concept - “crimes of a terrorist nature in the narrow or proper sense of the word” or “terrorism in the broad sense of the word” [9]. It should be noted that in the domestic legal literature terrorism is considered an extreme form of extremism. In Russian legal doctrine, extremism (extremist activity) is understood as: 1) the activities of individuals and various organizations (religious, public, etc.) in planning, organizing, preparing and committing actions aimed at violently changing the foundations of the constitutional order and violating the integrity Russia, undermining the security of the Russian Federation, seizing or appropriating power, creating illegal armed groups, carrying out terrorist activities, etc.; 2) propaganda and public display of Nazi and similar paraphernalia or symbols; 3) public calls for the specified activities; 4) financing of the specified activities. Thus, the definition of the concept of terrorism is one of the complex problems of world science and practice in the fight against crime. Currently, there are a huge number of concepts of terrorism, none of which is generally accepted. This situation is due both to the complexity of the phenomenon itself, which is terrorism, and to subjective factors existing at the domestic and international levels.

1.2 Approaches to studying the problem of terrorism

Currently, there are several main approaches to studying the phenomenon of terrorism. The main direction in the study of the psychology of terrorism is the systems approach (N. Wiener, W. Ashby, L. Bertalanffy, O. Lange). A systematic approach to research makes it possible to improve the process of developing effective social technologies aimed at minimizing the impact of terrorism on modern society. Minimizing the impact of terrorism on modern society contributes to the development of culture, economy on a local and global scale, which helps maintain political, economic, social balance on earth). The structural-functional approach is also used. The basic principles of the structural-functional approach (D. Easton, S. Lipset) is the use of accumulated knowledge in this area to identify the functional content of the phenomenon of terrorism. In parallel in modern research The psychology of terrorism uses the method of comparative analysis (S. Liberson, M. Armer), which made it possible, when studying theoretical and empirical material, to correlate theoretical approaches that differ in their initial foundations in the description of the phenomenon being studied. Terrorism changes over time and develops quantitatively and qualitatively. Comparative analysis allows us to trace the beginning of terrorist aggression, predict its directions and development. This allows you to avoid unwanted and negative consequences in the state, region, planet. However, despite the presence large quantities scientific works devoted to the interpretation of terrorism as both a psychological and political phenomenon, the topic is far from exhausted. Terrorism is rapidly changing its ideological, institutional and procedural manifestations, so there is a need for its further study as a factor of psychological destabilization modern society.

1.3 Types of terrorist attacks

Given the infinite variety, closure and interweaving various forms terrorism, its classification is not an easy task. Foreign and domestic philosophers, political scientists, historians systematize and classify terrorism, offering specific classification criteria, which reflects the complexity of this phenomenon. Political scientist D.V. Olshansky considers the “largest” types of terrorism to be: political (terrorist actions of various kinds aimed at influencing political leaders, the authorities or the policies they pursue, to force certain political actions or government decisions), informational (direct influence on the psyche and consciousness of people in order to form the necessary opinions and judgments that in a certain way guide people’s behavior), economic (various discriminatory economic actions that have the purpose of influencing economic competitors, social groups and layers of the population, as well as states and their leaders in order to achieve specific economically beneficial solutions for terrorists) and social (domestic) terrorism (rampant street crime, growing criminality, general social instability and mass everyday disorder). L.V. Serdyuk singles out selfless terrorism, as an example of which he cites the activities of Russian revolutionary terrorists at the beginning of the 20th century. At the same time, according to the author, the positive aspect of the fanatical activity of terrorist revolutionaries is obvious - it is in their selflessness, in the desire for social justice for all people of the state. In the legal literature, technological terrorism is distinguished, which is understood as the illegal use of nuclear, chemical, bacteriological (biological) weapons or their components, nuclear, radioactive, highly toxic chemical substances, pathogenic microorganisms, as well as the disabling, destruction or capture of nuclear, chemical or other facilities, life support systems of cities and industrial centers to achieve political, economic and other goals. According to V.V. Luneev existing terrorism can be divided into: political; international; national and religious; state; spontaneous and organized; air; criminal According to I.V. Syromyatnikov, at least three important areas can be distinguished: a) the struggle against the government of one’s country, b) the struggle for national self-affirmation, c) religious terrorism. However, G.V. Ovchinnikova most accurately classifies terrorism into the following: independent species. By territorial basis:

1) international;

2) domestic;

According to the nature of the subject of terrorist activity, terrorism is divided into: 1. Unorganized or individual. In this case, a terrorist attack (more rarely, a series of terrorist attacks) is carried out by one or two people who are not backed by any organization. Individual terrorism is the most a rare event in modern world; 2. Organized, collective - terrorist activities are planned and implemented by a special organization. Organized terrorism is the most widespread in the modern world.

According to its goals, terrorism is divided into: 1. Nationalist - pursues separatist or national liberation goals; 2. Religious - associated either with the struggle of adherents of one religion with adherents of another, or pursues the goal of undermining secular power and establishing religious power. 3. Ideologically given, social - pursues the goal of a radical or partial change in the economic or political system of the country. Sometimes this type of terrorism is called revolutionary. An example of ideologically defined terrorism is anarchist, Socialist Revolutionary, fascist, European “leftist” terrorism, etc. Thus, with all the diversity of types of terrorism, disputes over the problems of classifying types of terrorism indicate an urgent need for further research in psychological science these problems, since their development is due, among other things, to urgent practical needs. Also analyzing the methods of terrorist activity, N. Pukhovsky gives a classification of forms of manifestation of terrorism. 1. Individual terror or political murders - officials, public figures, bankers, law enforcement officers, etc. 2. Political abductions. As a rule, large ones are kidnapped statesmen, industrialists, journalists, military, foreign diplomats, etc. The purpose of the kidnapping is political blackmail (demands for fulfilling certain political conditions, release of accomplices from prison, ransom, etc.) 3. Use of explosive devices for terrorist purposes. The reasons why terrorists prefer to use explosive devices are obvious: the explosion ensures the “effectiveness” of the terrorist attack, i.e. significant damage is caused. It is necessary to note the particular danger of the considered method of committing a terrorist attack. Information about such crimes, the threat of their repetition and the high likelihood of using suicide bombers has a serious psychological impact on various groups of the population. 4. Aircraft hijacking and other criminal interference in activities civil aviation. This form of terrorism (hijacking, bombing of aircraft) causes significant loss of life and attracts media attention. This explains the fact that a significant part of terrorist acts are hijackings, hijackings, destruction of aircraft and other attacks on the safety of civil aviation. 5. Seizure and hijacking of a sea vessel, and other criminal interference in the activities of international shipping. 6. Hostage taking. The motives and goals of the criminals are essential. In some cases, hostage takers make “combined” demands: payment of a ransom and fulfillment of political demands. Meanwhile, terrorists whose psyche is disturbed are capable of irrational, unpredictable actions, which should be taken into account when negotiating with them, preparing and carrying out hostage release actions. Terrorists are well aware that they do not always need to massacre people. The desired result can be achieved if the illusion is created, for example, of possessing a deadly weapon and being ready to use it. Thus, through psychological blackmail, pressure is exerted on the public. This is a brief description of main types of terrorism and manifestations of its forms. It should be noted that with all the diversity of these types and forms, terrorism pursues one goal - to make the authorities and people hostage to their interests, causing the population to feel fear, panic, and insecurity.

Chapter 1 Conclusions

Terrorism is a criminal act consisting of the use of violence or the threat of violence against individuals or a group of individuals, accompanied by intimidation of the population and the deliberate creation of an environment of fear, depression, and tension. The purpose of this phenomenon is to influence decision-making that is beneficial to terrorists and is characterized by an increased public danger and the public nature of the commission of this act.

Since terrorism is a criminal act, several of its distinctive features should be highlighted. This is the high public danger that it generates, the deliberate creation of an environment of fear and tension, and the public nature of its execution.

The typology of terrorism occurs according to several criteria. Thus, terrorism is usually distinguished into different kinds on a territorial basis, on the nature of the subject of terrorist activity, on its goals. However, with all the diversity of types of terrorism, disputes over the problems of its classification indicate the need for further study.

Currently, there are many approaches to studying the phenomenon of terrorism, however, despite the huge amount of material devoted to the study of this phenomenon, terrorism is rapidly changing its manifestations, so there is a need for its further study.

2. PSYCHOLOGY OF TERRORISM

2.1 Psychological prerequisites for the emergence of terrorism

The success of the fight against one or another socially dangerous phenomenon largely depends on understanding its essence and causes of occurrence. Special attention in the study of terrorism, the psychological prerequisites of this problem deserve. There is a lot of research on this topic. The main researchers of the definition and classification of terrorism were such scientists as S.A. Goncharov, I.V. Syromyatnikov, D.V. Olshansky. “No matter what preconditions giving rise to terrorism we talk about, no matter what groups of factors we highlight, first of all, it is necessary to emphasize that Belarus is going through a transition period, which is based on the redistribution of property, which directly affects the fate and interests of all citizens of the country. This whole process determines the behavior of individuals, all significant social, ethnic and professional groups of the population.” In such a transitional period, especially burdened economic crisis, mental tension arises in society, and conditions for social confrontation may be created, a special state of mass consciousness may form, which is characterized by an inadequate assessment of reality, and moods of uncertainty, social fear, anger and aggressiveness may become widespread. Under such circumstances, extremist calls for social protests are easily perceived. When this is complemented by the weakness of state power, its inability to ensure physical security personality and its property, the cult of violence begins to make its way, and terrorism in these conditions becomes an integral part of the mentality of society. In his research, K.N. Salimov identifies the following main socio-psychological reasons that give rise to terrorism:

· low efficiency of the government apparatus and law enforcement agencies, lack of effective mechanisms for legal protection of the population;

· a fierce struggle for power by political parties or public associations pursuing political goals, or individual groups whose leaders pursue narrowly selfish goals;

· reduction in the effectiveness of the functioning of protective mechanisms in the sphere of morality and ethics, loss of guidelines in educational work, primarily among young people;

· increasing tendency to resolve emerging contradictions and conflicts by force (annual increase in the number of contract killings, etc.);

· strengthening social contradictions under the influence of growing crime, especially organized crime, which in itself creates a system of protection from law enforcement agencies and control by society.

Among all the prerequisites for terrorism, the place of psychological prerequisites is one of the main ones, because The basis of psychological knowledge of terrorism is the analysis of the psychological motives of this crime. I mean, not external visible reasons behavior of individuals committing terrorist acts, and the actual motives - as the meaning, subjective meaning of such behavior. The main question that arises here seems to be the following: what is the gain, primarily psychological, from performing appropriate actions for the guilty person himself, including in cases where he acts for material reward. The last circumstance highlighted due to the fact that selfish incentives only externally look like natural motives, and underneath them, in depth, on an unconscious level, there are other, no less powerful motives that are quite often the leading motives. Consequently, the motive is not what lies on the surface, not what the criminal himself can explain, and not, of course, what is indicated in the sentence. Thus, it follows that the roots of terrorism lie not only in psychology, but also in political, economic and other social relations. People engage in terrorism not due to psychological anomalies, although the latter, as already noted, may occur and their presence makes it possible to better understand the personality of terrorists, especially the direct perpetrators, as well as the number of anomalies political, economic, territorial, ideological, religious, etc. By destroying and killing, terrorists pursue distant goals, and they consider the killings and explosions themselves only as means of achieving goals.

2.2 Psychological consequences of terrorist attacks

Terrorism does not pass without a trace. There are always consequences after it. One of the consequences of terrorism is psychological consequences. This problem was dealt with by Pukhovsky N.N., Olshansky D.V. etc. The psychological consequences of terrorism should be understood as a negative impact on a person’s emotional and mental health. Victims of a terrorist attack are primarily susceptible to this type of consequences. A victim of a terrorist act is usually understood as a person (or group of persons) who has directly suffered an attack on their fundamental rights by another person (or group of persons) acting consciously. The psychology of victims of terror consists of five main components. They can be arranged chronologically. This is fear, replaced by horror, causing either apathy or panic, which can give way to aggression. Men and women behave differently as victims of terror. Certain behavioral differences are associated with the level of education, the development of intelligence and the level of well-being of a person (the less he has to lose, the greater the tendency to chaotic, unproductive protest). Some time after a terrorist attack, its victims and witnesses retain psychopathological symptoms - primarily in the form of delayed fear, as well as various kinds of phobias and regular nightmares. It should be noted that 40% of terrorist victims have deteriorating mental health. Psychological help 20% rescuers required. Also, the consequences of terrorism differ in that several years may pass before the victim realizes that he has mental trauma as a consequence of a terrorist act and seeks help.

Classification of consequences experienced by victims of terrorism:

· uniqueness of the experience: there are few situations in life in which a person experiences the same thing;

· the terrible thought that you are playing the role of a pawn in a game that is beyond their control, beyond their understanding;

· the victim feels humiliated and has no value;

· sometimes a dependence is established between the victim and the terrorist and the victim sees his protector in the terrorist (“Stockholm Syndrome”). For the victim, such a connection serves a protective function, alleviating feelings of fear and helplessness. However, after the incident, this addiction can turn into a source of guilt, which can undermine all attempts at treatment;

· the situation includes an element of complete surprise, which cannot but cause a strong feeling of helplessness and anxiety.

The consequences of traumatic stress in victims of terrorism are of a different nature and manifest themselves in different ways.

Psychological - decreased self-esteem, level of social adaptation and frustration tolerance.

Physiological - predominance of sympathetic tone nervous system over the parasympathetic, changes in hemodynamics.

Endocrine - increased activity of the sympathetic-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal systems.

Metabolic - an increase in transport forms of fat in the blood, a shift in the lipoprotein spectrum towards atherogenic fractions.

Thus, preventing the consequences of terrorism plays an extremely important role in the study of the phenomenon of terrorism. The psychological consequences of terrorism are something that does not pass without leaving a mark on a person’s life and his mental health.

2.3 Roles of participants in a terrorist attack

Using the example of a terrorist act involving hostage-taking, its participants are divided into terrorists and their victims. A terrorist is usually understood as a person who takes part in terrorist activities in any form. Despite numerous studies conducted by foreign and domestic experts, terrorists do not fall into a specific diagnostic and psychiatric category. Most comparative studies have not found any obvious mental abnormality in terrorists. Nevertheless, attempts continue to identify specific personal predispositions in people who take the path of terrorism. Among members of terrorist groups there is a significant proportion of embittered, paranoid individuals. A common feature of many terrorists is a tendency to look outside for sources of personal problems. Although this trait is not overtly paranoid, there is an over-focus on protecting the self through projection. Other characteristic traits are constant defensiveness, excessive self-absorption, and little regard for the feelings of others. Psychodynamics similar to those found in cases bordering on narcissistic disorders were found. It should also be noted that a terrorist is deprived of such problems and acts as a soulless “destructive machine.” Psychological analysis allows us to identify the three most striking variants of such a “terrorist machine.” “Zombie syndrome” is a state of constant combat readiness, a kind of “fighter syndrome” that needs continuous self-affirmation and confirmation of its worth. It is characteristic of terrorist perpetrators, low-level militants. “Missionary” is the main psychological core of the “Rambo syndrome”. “Rambo” cannot (although he can) kill “just like that” - he must do it in the name of something lofty. Therefore, he has to constantly search and find one or another, increasingly complex and risky, “missions”. To the main psychological characteristics“Kamikaze syndrome” primarily refers to extreme readiness for self-sacrifice in the form of sacrificing one’s own life. Overcoming the fear of death is quite possible by changing your attitude towards life. Once you stop considering life as some kind of your own property, the fear of death goes away. Well, now let’s look at the hostages who suffered from terrorist actions, as well as unwitting witnesses, assessing the general psychological traits of different types of victims of terror. The first group of people involved in terror—close relatives of hostages and “missing people” (presumed hostages)—suddenly found themselves in a situation of “psychological swing”: they rushed from hope to despair. All these people discovered acute reactions to stress with a characteristic combination of a whole complex of affective shock disorders (grief, depression, anxiety), paranoia (hostile mistrust, alertness, manic persistence) and somatoform reactions (fainting, heart attacks, allergic skin rashes). Due to their powerful negative affect, they infected a significant part of the city’s prosperous population (who were not directly affected by the terrorist attack) negative emotions, as well as doubts regarding the possibility of effective assistance and sincere sympathy from people who specially came to the city to eliminate the emergency situation. The main inductors of this kind emotional states became elderly relatives of the hostages, whose adaptation resources were objectively reduced and who, because of this, aroused increased sympathy for themselves, as well as a feeling of self-reproach among relatively prosperous neighbors. The condition of the representatives of the second group - the newly released hostages - was determined by the residual effects of the acute affective-shock reactions they experienced. In clinical and psychological terms, this was a fairly typical picture of so-called adynamic depression with the “masks” of asthenia and apathy usually characteristic of it. Characteristic was the reluctance to remember the experience, the desire to “come home as soon as possible, take a bath, go to bed and forget everything, quickly return to your normal life.” Let us especially note the obsessive desire to “cleanse ourselves” as quickly as possible, in particular to “take a bath” - it was especially symptomatic and was expressed by many released hostages. The roles between the participants in a terrorist act are distributed as follows: victims, terrorists, liquidators. It should be noted that the scenario of a terrorist attack belongs to terrorists, and victims are a way to achieve their goals. The goals of terrorists are thwarted by anti-terrorist groups.

2.4. Main directions of psychological research on terrorism

Psychologists should be directly involved in practical work to prevent the causes, course and results of terrorist behavior. It is necessary to highlight the main directions of modern psychological trends in the study of terrorism. The first is a fundamental approach, that is, an understanding of the very nature of terrorism. Here the ideas of a variety of sciences, schools and concepts should coexist quite peacefully and even integrate. Theoretical and methodological basis The phenomenon of terrorism was created in the works of both foreign and domestic thinkers: N.V. Zhdanova, E.G. Lyakhov and others. Scientists such as K.N. made their contribution to the development of ideas about the functioning of terrorism in Russia. Salimov, E.G. Gaiduk, E.I Stepanov and others. The second direction should start from some fundamental ideas about terrorism and “probe” it with the help of individual sciences. For example social foundations the existence of terrorism is revealed by P. Clark and M. S. Komarov in their research. The third direction is tactical opposition to specific terrorist activity. As a rule, its representatives are citizens who have become targets of terrorist activities, employees of law enforcement ministries, who, on duty, find themselves face to face with terrorists, the acts they have committed and their consequences. For them, this is not a subject of abstract reflection on the centuries-old base nature of man, but people and actions “here” and “now”. Unfortunately, the experience gained in studying the mechanism of terrorist acts and the tactics of special operations remains inaccessible to broad comprehension. In view of all of the above, some conclusions follow on the main directions of psychological research on the problem of terrorism: First, it is necessary to solve the problem of “diagnosis” of people prone to terrorism. These may be the most different people- their psychological profile must be determined with sufficient accuracy. Secondly, the construction of a relatively accurate psychological portrait terrorist. And thirdly, the development of various types of psychological influence on participants in a terrorist act, depending on who they are.

Chapter 2 Conclusions

However, terrorism does not pass without a trace, and one of the main types of consequences of terrorism are psychological consequences, the basis of which is the traumatic stress received by the victim during a terrorist act, not to mention death. The consequences of traumatic stress in victims of terrorism are of a different nature and manifest themselves in different ways:

1. Psychological - decreased self-esteem and level of social adaptation.

2. Physiological - predominance of the tone of the sympathetic nervous system over the parasympathetic, changes in hemodynamics.

3. Endocrine - increased activity of the sympathetic-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal systems.

4. Metabolic - increase in transport forms of fat in the blood, shift of the lipoprotein spectrum towards atherogenic fractions

Therefore, their study plays a huge role in eliminating the consequences of terrorism. The psychological consequences observed in participants in a terrorist attack manifest themselves not only in their personalities, but also in families and the surrounding society.

Conclusion

Currently, the topic of terrorism is widely discussed in the media, domestic and foreign research in the field of sociology, psychology. However, to effectively counter terrorism, it is necessary to develop and implement a comprehensive program that includes political, social, economic, legal, ideological, and of course psychological aspects. It must certainly take into account the interests of the population, the problems and potential of terrorism throughout the world. We also need interaction and coordination of all forces in society interested in solving this pressing problem. This problem in different time Such scientists as Goncharov S.A., Stepanov E.I., Olshansky D.V. have been and are engaged in this work.

The difficulty in studying the problem of terrorism lies in the lack of a unified approach to studying the phenomenon of terrorism and the psychological characteristics of this phenomenon. What also makes it difficult to study the psychological patterns of this phenomenon is that terrorism has developed from ancient centuries to our time and its goals and objectives have long since lost their former character.

The distinctive features of terrorism as a criminal act are the high social danger it creates and the public nature of its execution. deliberately creating a climate of fear and tension in society

Terrorism is usually distinguished into different types based on territoriality, the nature of the subject of terrorist activity, and its goals. However, with all the diversity of types of terrorism, disputes over the problems of its classification indicate the need for further study.

The basis of psychological knowledge of terrorism is the analysis of psychological motives and causes of this phenomenon.

There are a huge number of reasons that give rise to terrorism. Psychological reasons occupy an important place among the classification of these reasons. The main socio-psychological reasons that give rise to terrorism are the strengthening of social contradictions, the low efficiency of the state apparatus and law enforcement agencies, etc.

Thus, the current state of the fight against terrorism has reached a qualitatively new level and has received new guidelines for close cooperation with other countries and international organizations not only at departmental but also at state levels.

All of the above should not frighten people, but direct them to find a solution to the problem of terrorism. It is necessary to start here with the psychology of terrorism, since it has been little studied in order to understand the goals and objectives of terrorists. To do this, develop and implement a set of measures to prevent terrorist acts, provide assistance to victims and members of their families, conduct special propaganda work with the population, and train specialized units to eliminate terrorist acts and their consequences.

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I would classify mobbing as emotional abuse, but not terrorism, because in this case no ransom is required.

I was prompted to write this article by information about fraud that fits into the concept of psychological terrorism. That is, intimidate and then offer a ransom.

The scheme of the scam is as follows: psychoterrorists first inform the victim about a certain threat, intimidate her, and then show “concern”.

Fraudsters are targeting a person who is experiencing some difficulties at this stage of their life.

Then he receives a letter where it is written that he can be provided with magical help in solving these problems, but for this he will give up part of his soul.

Then some symbols may arrive by email, a letter with incomprehensible gibberish may be inserted into the door, a phone call with a warning that “Everything is already running,” and so on.

Time passes, everything resolves itself for a person, as often happens, and after a while he receives a letter that his soul has become the property of a certain company, but since he is a good person, he can buy his soul back for a certain amount of dollars.

Psychological terrorism is not a new phenomenon; Roma have been using it to earn their living for many years. I will give an example from life followed by its analysis, so that it is clear how the gypsies use intimidation to gain benefits.

One woman was terribly afraid of worms and caterpillars, and the entire village in which she lived knew about it. Gypsies arrived in the village, and after a couple of days the gypsy immediately said that the woman had damage that could be removed, and there was no need to pay for it. The woman agreed. The gypsy gave her an egg and told her to roll her bed with it, and tomorrow they would remove this damage.

The woman did everything as she was told, and as soon as her husband left for work, the gypsy woman came to her. She took the egg, began to mutter and make passes with her hands, and then brought the egg to the woman and, breaking it, showed her the furry caterpillar lying inside. The woman froze with fear and then the gypsy said to her: “Buy her off with what she shows, or this damage will haunt you all your life!” And she went around the house pointing out crystal and other valuable things, naturally, and didn’t forget about the money.

What happened here?

The gypsy used this woman's fear to intimidate her. It was not difficult to find out what a woman was afraid of; everyone knew about it. Putting a caterpillar into an empty egg doesn’t require much intelligence either. All that was left for her then was to act out the witchcraft, replace the real egg and slip a caterpillar under the woman’s nose - and she, already stupefied with fear, gave everything just to get rid of the horror.

How to protect yourself from psychological terrorism?

The first thing is to determine now whether you are at risk, are you one of those people on whom these manipulations are designed and can influence? After all, psychoterrorists do not target everyone; they are, as a rule, good experts in human psychology. And they direct their manipulations to a specific target audience.

In order to determine this, you need to answer simple questions:

Do you worry if one of your family and friends is delayed somewhere? Do you draw in your imagination pictures of terrible incidents that could happen to them? Do you believe in damage, the evil eye, a curse?

Does your attention in the media more often focus on terrible incidents: accidents, disasters, murders and unexplained phenomena?

If you answered “Yes” to at least one of the questions, then you are at risk.

If you answered “Yes” to all three questions, then you are an ideal victim for psychological terrorism.

Those who have been making a living from this type of manipulation for generations figure out the victim by their behavior: they approach those who notice signs of depression, anxiety, and fear. Which is very often characteristic of those people who answered “Yes” to all three questions.

Secondly, if you are at risk, then how can you resist such manipulations? Avoid communicating with “do-gooders.” How children are taught not to approach people on the street strangers, so this is contraindicated for you too.

Third, if you do make contact and are offered help, then do not agree immediately, tell yourself: “Stop!” Give yourself time to make a decision, find an opportunity to consult with significant people who are not influenced by such fears.

You should be especially wary that you are asked not to tell anyone about this. Because the scammers know that if time will pass and you can consult with someone, then the rational mind will turn on, and you will no longer be at the mercy of the manipulations of psiterrorists.

The key to the success of psychoterrorists is the fear of their victims, because under the influence of emotions the rational mind retreats, and a person begins to see what the scammers inspire in him and shows

At the 11th Summit of Psychologists, a report by Professor M.M. was announced. Reshetnikov’s “Psychology of Terrorism”, it was not presented due to the impossibility of shortening it for the format of short speeches. Video recording of the report of Professor M.M. Reshetnikova has already been published. We publish a report on the psychology and origins of terrorism in text and video format:

There is a fairly widespread point of view in society that terrorism is a consequence of the activities of terrorists. This, of course, is a very superficial view of the problem. A more adequate and at the same time more complex question is: what is the consequence of the emergence of terrorism and the terrorist worldview, which is becoming more widespread and acquiring the character of a kind of epidemic. This issue becomes even more relevant in connection with the qualitative transformation of modern terrorism: lone terrorists were replaced by terrorist groups, and then by organized armies and communities of thousands of terrorists, claiming the role of independent states and subjects of world politics, to combat which the creation of a military coalition was required leading countries of the world.

Why is this happening?

It is impossible to give a simple explanation to this question. Almost all the authors who analyze this topic do not say much or do not even speculate. And before we move directly to the problem of terrorism, we will try to comprehend the historical background against which it appeared in its modern version.

Most Western Europeans (including Euro-Americans) are endlessly confident that they are the leaders modern civilization. Moreover, the majority of Europeans are also confident or tacitly agree that it is precisely this type of development that they must offer, introduce or even provide (including forceful methods) to all other (in this case a priori understood as backward) peoples. There is, of course, a certain misconception here. Perhaps it would be worth considering: “Does the entire non-European world (79% of the world’s population) really long to join the outwardly respectable and fragrant, but sometimes foul-smelling Western civilization?” In the latter case, we mean the uncontrollable stratification of the population by income level and almost lost ideas about social justice, as well as alcoholism, unbelief, drugs, family breakdown, prostitution, pornography, unreliable friendships and double standards, corruption, venality, etc. All together (respectability and everything else) is usually called the “Western way of life” and the “consumer society.” But serious analysis shows that this social project Not everyone is attracted to it, even in the West.

About the Western way of life

In this “way of life” there is less and less space left for high ideals, meanings and morality, which are replaced by commodity fetishism and the sacralization of material wealth. These problems have long been the subject of discussion and negative assessments in almost all countries, and by representatives of all sectors of society (perhaps with the exception of the wealthiest). It is characteristic that the problem of social justice is increasingly mentioned in print and electronic media (although it would be more accurate to talk about growing injustice). It must be admitted that the discussion of this problem has been ongoing throughout the post-perestroika years, but it has been conducted rather sluggishly and calmly, rather at the level of statement, like: “Unfortunately, this is the modern reality, and nothing can be done about it.”

It is also not noticed that the well-known main contradiction of capitalism: between “the social nature of production and the private form of appropriation of the created material goods"has been growing rapidly over the last century, and has now reached insane proportions. For example, in the United States, 0.1% of Americans own the same wealth as 90% of the rest of the country's population. In Russia the situation is much better, even 100 times better, and corresponds to the little comforting world statistics, according to which 10% of the planet's population accumulates 89.1% of all material wealth. The stratification of the population by income level in average statistical terms between the richest 10% and the poorest 10% reaches from 15 to 40 times (in different countries), and between the 1% of the highest paid and the 1% of the poorest (working!) reaches 1000 times or more. The mainstream media suddenly brought up the shameful phenomenon of the “working poor” again.

At the same time, for a significant part of the population (due to different levels of income and different starting opportunities), the availability of education, healthcare, and, in general, the level and quality of life, as well as protection from crime (which has increased tenfold over the past 40 years) is consistently declining. , social elevators work less efficiently, etc. Naturally, this gradually stimulates the growth of public discontent, especially among young people. Including and primarily among young migrants, even if they were born and seem to be considered full citizens of Western countries, but in fact - in most cases they are still “second class”.

New citizens

It should be noted that these new citizens are fundamentally different from the migrants of the first wave, who were happy simply because they had the opportunity not to starve, not to die from thirst and epidemics, to change their shacks and huts to something, albeit not so comfortable, but still real housing with water supply, sewerage and heating. These new citizens have already received some kind of education, access to television and the Internet, and other both real and dubious benefits of Western civilization. But in general, the “melting pot” that sociologists and philosophers hoped for did not work - for the most part, these migrants remained an alien group, and in the current situation, they are becoming an increasingly large alien part of the population of leading Western countries. Moreover, a group focused on traditional values, highly religious and very critical of the moral state of Western civilization.

Where have we come?

Almost the entire development of mankind and all changes in socio-economic formations took place under the slogans of the fight against injustice and were accompanied by attempts to establish new, more just - economic and socio-psychological relations between people. But the slogans existed on their own, and socio-economic relations existed on their own, gradually discrediting the once proclaimed ideas. In the process of depleting the potential of situationally updated slogans, it became increasingly clear that not only lofty ideas, but also the desire for power and the greed of economic elites (as defined by F. Engels) were and are the main forces of progress.

Let us add that for some reason most analysts do not notice a number of specific factors modern development. Money began to gradually lose its main purpose and turned into a specific product that could not be stored for long. The banking sector has grown to unimaginable proportions, producing nothing but financial transactions. The development of new territories is no longer accompanied by the creation and development of production capacities and the settlement of certain regions. The main option for “development” has become the increasingly technological withdrawal of natural resources and highly qualified scientific and human resources with a naturally unidirectional vector of their movement to countries that are leaders in globalization. At the same time, there are a number of restrictions on the transfer high technology countries that are not among the leaders of globalization. As a result, the once popular phrase that “We are all in the same boat” was supplemented with a sarcastic note: “But some as provisions,” and began to acquire real meaning for entire countries and peoples. We all know this, but we take it for granted. But these other peoples are also aware of the fate prepared for them, and are unlikely to be ready to accept it.

One of the essential features of modern capitalism is mentioned quite rarely, namely the emergence of a new mass class of “humiliated and insulted”, which replaced the classical proletariat. In this case, we mean highly qualified and even highly educated hired personnel who do not have (compared to employers) almost any rights and social guarantees, and are called “precariat” (that is, unstable, dangerous). At the same time, the “lower” part of the precariat in all countries is formed almost exclusively by migrants, and the threat of destabilization of such a familiar and comfortable Western world is growing.

Romantics of struggle

In any society, there is a special (not too widespread) category of young people who could be described as “romantics of struggle”, who are characterized by such properties as youthful maximalism, a tendency to question all established norms and rules, combined with the energy and aggressiveness of psychological installations. Finding themselves in an ideological vacuum, these youth turn to the search for at least some ideals or something more meaningful than commodity fetishism and material well-being.

A certain number of initially oppositionally charged social activists, committed to change and passionate about being heard, is always present in any society. This is normal and natural. But if the culture and society does not accept, does not discuss or initially rejects the ideals of such social activists, and the available power does not provide them with any adequate explanatory system of modernity, they can easily transform into social fanatics. In principle, the collapse of any ideals and illusions can cause “some insanity,” as Nikolai Berdyaev defined fanaticism.

These are not all the features of that historical background, without taking into account which it is difficult to understand: why are some young people, including ethnic Europeans, easily involved in ISIS (an organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation)?

What attracts them?

Many analysts have repeatedly tried to answer this question. One of the most common answers is: “They are there for social justice.” But this is only the main and most attractive slogan that recruiters actively use. Propagandists of ISIS banned in Russia (an organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) promise them much more - new world, in which there will be no rich and poor, “more equal”, servants and masters, unfair trials, corruption and bribery, smoking and drugs, alcohol and prostitution, double standards and same-sex marriage, pornography, etc. Of course, these promises and ideas are just more illusions and manipulations based on the leading factors of public discontent. However, for young activists disillusioned with the Western way of life, in some cases they turn out to be more than attractive.

I often meet with student youth. Most educated young people agree that these slogans are just another illusion and admit that building such an ideal society is impossible. Let me emphasize that we are talking about well-educated young people who are aware of their social prospects. But even in this environment, some answer: “You are the one who accepted the fact that this is impossible!” And others formulate this idea more aggressively, one might say, even with some doom (I will quote one of these statements): “Even if this is impossible, the main thing is to get out of the historical moral impasse, where the whole world has been led by completely false Western democracy and the idea of a consumer society , likening most people to cattle!”

The Western media note that the number of such social activists is increasing, let us emphasize once again - including among ethnic Europeans. Are these young people, and not only immigrants from the East or Africa, ready to fight for the idea of some new social order, although they themselves do not really understand what exactly it should be? There is only discontent, and so far no one has offered them other ideas, meanings of existence and, in general, a different model of the future. But such a model is needed, and it should be equally attractive to the absolute majority of the population and all social groups.

The number of terrorists is growing

Most analysts actively exploit the Islamic theme. But I think that although it became situationally the main one (especially on the crest of a series of “Arab color revolutions”, or rather, attempts to bring European democracy “at bayonets” to Arab countries - attempts that ultimately gave rise to ISIS, banned in Russia (an organization whose activities prohibited in the Russian Federation)), however, the factors mentioned above seem to be much more significant.

According to experts, the increase in the number of people involved in terrorist organizations and groups indicates the colossal success of the propaganda of ISIS (an organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation) in the Arab world, and in Europe, where the number of newcomers is also consistently growing. Similar processes are taking place in the Caucasus and Asia. In fact, there is nothing opposed to this propaganda. And in the absence of another image of the future, it cannot be opposed.

In the recently completed era of the “great Russian self-deception”, there was such a model of the future - illusory and primitive, but it existed. Now there is none. And to formulate this idea more precisely: the economic and power elites of most of the leading countries of the world are persistently trying to pass it off as the highest stage of human development and preserve the existing model of society and world order. This is difficult to justify short version, so the reader will have to take it on faith: the lack of an attractive image of the future and the loss of meaning are closely interrelated, and it is these two factors that provoke the loss (especially among young people) of a sense of self-preservation. It is here that the roots of the unprecedented growth of adherents of the child-free movement, extreme sports and entertainment: street racing and street challenges, roofers, plankers, jumpers, hookers, as well as the growth of youth suicides, sects and extremist groups are hidden.

Who are terrorists?

They are usually characterized as criminally insane. They are certainly criminal, but they are not crazy. The most significant indignation and misunderstanding is the question: what allows them to kill innocent people? This is quite difficult to understand, and you have to take it on faith that in their ideas there are no innocents, with the exception of those who share their ideas and, albeit illusory and even perverted, ideals. Let us add that the absence of restrictions and moral prohibitions in relation to potential targets of terrorist attacks is purposefully cultivated during the training process in terrorist camps (including through methods of religious education and brainwashing). A significant place in the training of terrorists is occupied by highly emotional training, in which it is justified: “This is not done out of a desire to kill, but because jihad must continue! Everything that is done to achieve our goals is legitimate!”

Without going into scientific explanations, we will only mention one psychological mechanism, well known to specialists, on the basis of which such a worldview and worldview is formed. In particular, we are talking about “projective identification”, in which a transformation of psychological attitudes occurs, most clearly manifested in paranoid personality development (at the same time, “paranoid development” is not necessarily a pathology). In such cases, even in the absence of any external provoking factors, people gradually develop an uncompromising confidence that it is not they who hate, blame and persecute innocent people. In their individual consciousness, everything is presented qualitatively differently: it is they who are hated and undeservedly persecuted, and they only respond to the fact that they are humiliated, accused and persecuted. And if there is severe mental trauma in the minds of the people, especially historical trauma (real or even mythological) inflicted by a hostile group belonging to another nation, such paranoid development can become widespread. According to scientists, it is this mechanism that underlies all interethnic conflicts: between Arabs and Jews, Armenians and Turks, the Irish and the British, including between Russians and Ukrainians.

Do they believe in God? It is difficult for us, who have almost lost our faith, to understand, but most of them sincerely believe in the direction (or deviation from) traditional Islam to which they belong. They believe in much the same way as it was in Europe in the Middle Ages, when dozens of witches and heretics were executed to the rejoicing of true Christians when they committed Crusades. In addition, they believe in their messianic role to cleanse the world of filth.

What do they want? If you try to look at it from the outside and impartially (which is quite difficult given their crimes against humanity), they want to eradicate the vices of modern Western society, and above all, the growing injustice and privileges of “more equal” citizens throughout the world. But, what is no less significant, they are, first of all, ready to fight against the privilege assumed by some states of “more equal” countries, which are allowed to neglect with impunity the national customs, traditions, established way of life and interests of other countries and peoples.

Finished countries

As is known, back in the second half of the twentieth century, such a specific definition appeared in political science as “finished countries” that will never have adequate education, healthcare, high technology, etc. These countries have been given a place on the sidelines by the tacit decision of the superpowers modern history, you can do whatever you want with them, and in case of disobedience, punish them (including with rocket attacks) based on sweeping and unsubstantiated accusations. There are more than enough examples: it all started in Yugoslavia, then there was a lie about Saddam Hussein having atomic weapons, and most recently another lie about the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Naturally, the population of these countries, and even immigrants from these countries who have become citizens of other states, are not satisfied with this situation. And it is here that lies the answer to the question of Western analysts who cannot understand in any way: why, being citizens of the free world - Belgium, Great Britain or France, do these immigrants from Arab countries, who received upbringing and education in their own respectable environment, not act like citizens?

It must be admitted that in the modern world there are numerous examples of quite arbitrary designation of someone as a terrorist. The United States proclaimed Slobodan Milosevic (1999), Saddam Hussein (2003), Muammar Gaddafi (2011) and the current leader of Syria Bashar al-Assad as terrorists, and in Ukraine, for example, citizens of the LPR and DPR are called such. It is even more remarkable that in Syria, for example, some terrorist groups are suddenly “reclassified” as moderate opposition, while others are doing the opposite. Essentially, it has become a label that can be applied to anyone, depending on political expediency. Now, through the efforts of the leaders of a number of Western countries and the media echoing them, this label is clearly being tried on for all of Russia. And the presence of such a label allows the Western superpowers to carry out any actions against such groups of individuals or countries, up to and including physical destruction or occupation. We have something to think about and understand that the defensive measures taken by the leadership of our country are timely and adequate.

The opinion of scientists and real practice

Scientists, who traditionally are not very listened to, have long been saying that in addition to forceful suppression, it is necessary to think about developing humanitarian anti-terror strategies that are adequate to the modern world, that not only intelligence services, but also enlightened knowledge and a consolidated society must resist this evil , convinced of his moral and historical rightness. At an international conference on anti-terrorism issues, held after the Beslan tragedy (2004), the opinion was expressed that fighting terrorism only by methods of eliminating terrorists is the same as trying to fight a flood, armed with tablespoons.

It must be said that at first the very thesis about humanitarian anti-terror strategies was perceived relatively negatively. But the subsequent development of the socio-psychological and socio-political situation in Chechnya convincingly showed that other methods are also possible, and they are much more effective than forceful suppression. Perhaps, on a global scale, we should not rely only on the widespread quantitative and qualitative growth of army units, law enforcement agencies and billions of dollars in investments in tracking and control systems? Perhaps, if you calculate, other options for solving the problem will be less expensive? But for this we will have to rethink all the existing stereotypes of socio-economic, interethnic and international relations.

Back in 1996, the author formulated the idea that all modern world is approaching a paradigm shift in development, and it has been suggested that this shift is likely to be extremely painful and uncivilized. It was precisely this development of future events that was justified by the fact that this change would be met with the most severe resistance from the power and economic elites, overloaded with the ideas of their situationally powerful, and from a historical point of view, illusory power. A paradigm shift is a historical process, and no matter how strong or how long the resistance to this process is, it will still go on. Or rather, it’s already underway. For now - according to the predicted scenario.

The role of security forces

Real understanding and awareness of the essence of world processes is still far away, but not as far as it seems. Nevertheless, for now the situation is as it is. Therefore, most citizens are sympathetic to the strengthening of law enforcement agencies, and will even understand the need for some restrictions on rights and freedoms in exchange for increasing the level of security. But here it is necessary to note certain difficulties in the activities of the law enforcement agencies themselves, which deserve all respect. We have not yet formed real cooperative relations between the population, the police and the intelligence services. On the one hand, this is due to the post-Soviet syndrome of a negative attitude towards any form of such interaction, which is still often assessed as “snitching.” On the other hand, already in the post-Soviet period, a point of view has developed in society and remains quite popular that strong structure They protect not so much citizens as those with power and capital (the so-called “more equal”). This negative stereotype, of course, needs to be overcome, and not with the help of an agitation and propaganda campaign, but with real examples, government decisions and legislative acts that will establish a qualitatively different level of citizen trust.

What should we understand?

The paranoid personality type has already been mentioned above, which at the everyday level is more often defined as fanaticism. In the description of this psychological phenomenon, as a rule, the following are highlighted: passionate devotion to one’s own (insignificantly advanced or extremely false) ideas and beliefs, combined with extreme intolerance to other people’s views, combined with blind worship of certain leaders who produce these ideas, with devotion to one’s own organizations, sects or groups. From this point of view, most terrorists are, of course, fanatics, ready for both self-sacrifice and murder. Nevertheless, an analysis of texts and manuals for terrorists allows us to state that every terrorist attack is also a message. Some instructions for terrorists directly state: “The more victims there are, the sooner they will understand!” At the same time, what exactly should be understood is not always formulated or lies beyond the limits of the real and achievable. This, of course, is a perversely criminal form of appeal to understanding, but this factor also should not be underestimated. Let us repeat once again: the experience of Chechnya has shown that it is possible to solve such problems in other ways, especially if there are sensible leaders of national elites with real authority and power, to whom even ideologically convinced terrorists listen.

Psychological portrait of a terrorist

These are predominantly young people who were raised in a patriarchal and religious environment. Usually they have stable, often extremely mythologized ideas about the historical traumas of their people, combined with ideas of revenge. The most typical social feelings for them are: grief, hatred, combined with injured national pride and a heightened sense of injustice perpetrated against their small homeland, as well as distorted ideas about the historical offender and a thirst for retribution. They are also characterized by a mixture of ideas about good and evil, and a willingness to sacrifice themselves in the name of faith and their ideals, which in their midst is assessed as heroism and the fulfillment of their sacred mission. Most often, recruitment is carried out through close friends (43% of cases) and relatives (84% of cases) or after the death of relatives, or after aggression by superpowers against their historical homeland, even if they were born in certain Western countries and are their citizens. According to world statistics, recruitment through blackmail does not exceed 5%. Contributing to recruitment are cases of obvious or hidden discrimination on national or religious grounds in school, university or other environments, including such insignificant (according to Europeans) as the ban on wearing the hijab. Let us clarify that we are not talking about a veil, but about an ordinary headscarf, which is still customary to wear in many Russian villages.

The childhood memories of terrorists tend to be associated with a colonial past, periods of war, occupation and exile - themselves or their parents, who in 32% of cases, although they mourn the dead, are sympathetic to the involvement of children in terrorist groups. This is due to the fact that the main role in the formation of a terrorist worldview is played not by propaganda, but by religious and political education, implemented from infancy in combination with the examples of one’s own national heroes, and only later do recruiters become involved in this process. It's no secret that families dead terrorists often receive substantial financial compensation from special funds and terrorist sponsors.

Terrorist groups are united according to a network principle, while individual “cells” are not connected and do not contact each other. In essence, this is a deep, well-echeloned underground. When carrying out terrorist attacks and hostage-taking, the possibility of successful negotiations with the perpetrators is practically excluded, since the leadership of the terrorist attack is usually carried out from the outside, and the group assigned to carry out the terrorist attack must carry out the order at any cost, regardless of the outcome of the current situation for itself.

In the name of what?

In the name of what do terrorists commit their crimes? For our (mostly atheistic audience) this sounds unconvincing, but mainly in the name of faith, as they understand it, and their people, for whose future they are ready to sacrifice their own lives. At one time they tried to downplay this factor by calling them “suicidal terrorists.” I don’t think that this allows us to better understand this phenomenology, which is tragic for the modern world. But no matter what they believe, society will always assume that they commit murders of innocent people, and for society they are criminals.

In many Western publications, terrorists are characterized as enemies of the Western world and enemies of the Western way of life, it is argued that they hate Western culture and Western society as a whole. This is not entirely true. In many cases, among them, it is not so much hatred that is purposefully cultivated as contempt for modern Western society for its vices.

Another common misconception is that most of them are criminal mercenaries, primitive and poorly educated people who carry out their misanthropic acts for money. These also exist, especially in countries where there are virtually no other sources of income other than joining armed groups. But they are not the majority. To be convinced of this, it is enough to analyze the last few terrorist attacks in Western Europe, committed by well-employed, quite prosperous and, at first glance, completely law-abiding and respectable citizens of these countries. This simultaneously allows us to draw several more disappointing conclusions: terrorism is getting younger, becoming more educated and technologically advanced and more sophisticated, and our technical achievements (airplanes, cars, houses, dams, etc.) easily turn into its murder weapons, scattered everywhere in our deep behind.

When surveying terrorists serving prison terms for their crimes, it was found that 0−1% experience a sincere sense of guilt and regret the terrorist attacks they committed; in 77% of cases, during the process of prison re-education, such prisoners experienced a strengthening of the terrorist worldview, group identity and dedication to their cause. 84% of prisoners said they planned to return to terrorist activities after prison. We felt a sense of pride for what the 99% accomplished. When asked how these massacres of innocent people fit in with the Koran, the standard answer was almost always given that “they serve the faith, there is a war, and all their sins are forgiven.” Attempts to convince those serving sentences for terrorism that the goals they pursued were unattainable were in all cases unsuccessful.

About recruiters

The media is actively exploiting the opinion that recruiters are some kind of paid crooks, asocial types, well trained, using manipulative methods and luring gullible young people into their networks. Of course - they are well prepared and trained in propaganda methods. But nevertheless, along with the “paid” ones, in most cases they are convinced romantics and fanatics of the struggle, who know how to identify and demonstrate the vices of the modern world and are sincerely convinced of the need to eradicate them. That is why their methods of persuasion in some cases turn out to be so effective. Those who conduct counter-propaganda, unfortunately, do not have the same unshakable confidence in their rightness and the same undeniable arguments in defense of the current situation in the world.

Terrorism is the weapon of the weak

Of course, the propaganda of terrorism and violence in any form must be counteracted. The main thing in this counteraction is working with young people. But the old methods no longer work. The youth of the information age are already qualitatively different, not the ones from which the Timurovites and pioneers were once formed. Times are different now, and young people are much smarter, more educated, growing up much earlier and looking at the modern world and our society with much more attention. Therefore, before designating its place or conducting counter-propaganda, it needs to be heard, given at least some spiritual support and offered an attractive image of the future. And only then patiently and persistently explain to them that justice is not found, but found in struggle. But this struggle must be waged using civilized methods: study, gain knowledge and experience, become politicians, government officials and public figures, offer new ideas and be strong. A terrorist attack is always a primitive weapon of the weak.

Literature

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A lecture was given on the same topic by M.M. Reshetnikov in the House of Scientists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, we offer you a video recording of the lecture: