52 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 1, No. 1, 2010
degrees of bonding to occur: from simple
sympathisers up to full activists. Terrorist
organisations, however, mark the division
between inside and outside the group, although
there also may be actions of support and
occasional collaboration on the part of people
who in theory do not belong to the group.
The people who tend to join these groups are
often young and single, chiefly males in the case
of terrorists, and without any clear gender
predominance in the case of cults. The studies
on ETA (Reinares, 2001 and 2004) or on people
in the same social environment who take part in
the street violence known as Kale Borroka
(Alonso and Reinares, 2005), the
aforementioned studies on the recruitment for
the Jihad or for the Shining Path, along with
those on other groups (GRAPO, IRA, Red
Brigades, etc.) confirm the socio-demographic
traits of young people who join terrorist groups:
primarily males with no children. We know that
adolescence and youth is a critical period,
characterised by transition, formation, and
growing up a period when the individual must
adjust and adapt to his/her social environment,
and seek and attempt to consolidate his/her own
identity. It is, therefore, a stage during which the
individual is more vulnerable to external sources
of influence or pressure.
With respect to other personal variables of a
psychological nature, the research until now has
shown that neither in terrorist groups nor in cults
can we talk of clear-cut personality profiles, and
much less of psychopathological profiles that is,
the people who join terrorist groups and cults
neither have specific psychological disorders,
nor do they have personality traits that are
clearly in common that would allow us to talk of
a strong profile (Crenshaw, 2000 De la Corte,
2006 San Martín, 2005). According to Horgan
(2005), by assuming the existence of a profile, it
is possible to ignore some significant
characteristics associated with the development
of the terrorist some of these elements of
predisposition would be the experience of the
individual, the degree and nature of some form
of prior participation with the group, the prior
knowledge of the group, and the exposure to the
attraction of militancy the context of the
community and its importance for the individual
in relation to the value placed on involvement
with the group the amount of early experiences
of the person in relation to the conflict and the
nature, opportunities, and alternatives to joining
the group. Other authors speak of two types of
needs of people susceptible to being recruited:
one refers to basic needs and relative privation,
and the other to the needs of identity and
personal fulfilment (Trujillo, Moyano, León,
Valenzuela and González-Cabrera, 2006).
In the case of cults, different studies mention
several psychological traits that future members
seem to share, although without speaking truly
of a profile. The question is whether these traits
can also be shared by potential terrorists
(Reinares, 2001). In this attempt at a
comparison, we look below at some of these
traits, which could presumably be common to
both: one would be idealism, in which the
romantic idea of the ability to transform society
toward a destiny that is considered better exists
another, the altruistic willingness to devote
oneself to working and fighting for what he/she
understands will liberate or save the people or
the community and another, the capacity to
submit oneself absolutely to this end with a
certain transcendental quest and, finally,
perhaps also a degree of naivety and affective
immaturity.
As far as the integration in society is concerned,
coincidences can occur in terms of a feeling of
clear dissatisfaction and disillusionment with the
social reality experienced. One of the possible
reasons for this dissatisfaction may arise from
persons not having solid established ties of
belonging to groups, which provide a consistent
social identity (Stahelski, 2005) and being, thus,
in a position to establish them. It would be in
these cases where there may be more
possibilities of success in proselytizing,
including that carried out over the Internet
(Gruen, 2006). This dissatisfaction with the
social reality and the lack of solid ties of
belonging may help to explain, for example,
why young European sons of immigrants who
have suffered from diverse forms of social
exclusion and have experienced strong feelings
of rootlessness and discontentment have joined
Al Qaeda terrorist cells (Javaloy, Espelt, and
Rodríguez-Carballeira, 2005).
degrees of bonding to occur: from simple
sympathisers up to full activists. Terrorist
organisations, however, mark the division
between inside and outside the group, although
there also may be actions of support and
occasional collaboration on the part of people
who in theory do not belong to the group.
The people who tend to join these groups are
often young and single, chiefly males in the case
of terrorists, and without any clear gender
predominance in the case of cults. The studies
on ETA (Reinares, 2001 and 2004) or on people
in the same social environment who take part in
the street violence known as Kale Borroka
(Alonso and Reinares, 2005), the
aforementioned studies on the recruitment for
the Jihad or for the Shining Path, along with
those on other groups (GRAPO, IRA, Red
Brigades, etc.) confirm the socio-demographic
traits of young people who join terrorist groups:
primarily males with no children. We know that
adolescence and youth is a critical period,
characterised by transition, formation, and
growing up a period when the individual must
adjust and adapt to his/her social environment,
and seek and attempt to consolidate his/her own
identity. It is, therefore, a stage during which the
individual is more vulnerable to external sources
of influence or pressure.
With respect to other personal variables of a
psychological nature, the research until now has
shown that neither in terrorist groups nor in cults
can we talk of clear-cut personality profiles, and
much less of psychopathological profiles that is,
the people who join terrorist groups and cults
neither have specific psychological disorders,
nor do they have personality traits that are
clearly in common that would allow us to talk of
a strong profile (Crenshaw, 2000 De la Corte,
2006 San Martín, 2005). According to Horgan
(2005), by assuming the existence of a profile, it
is possible to ignore some significant
characteristics associated with the development
of the terrorist some of these elements of
predisposition would be the experience of the
individual, the degree and nature of some form
of prior participation with the group, the prior
knowledge of the group, and the exposure to the
attraction of militancy the context of the
community and its importance for the individual
in relation to the value placed on involvement
with the group the amount of early experiences
of the person in relation to the conflict and the
nature, opportunities, and alternatives to joining
the group. Other authors speak of two types of
needs of people susceptible to being recruited:
one refers to basic needs and relative privation,
and the other to the needs of identity and
personal fulfilment (Trujillo, Moyano, León,
Valenzuela and González-Cabrera, 2006).
In the case of cults, different studies mention
several psychological traits that future members
seem to share, although without speaking truly
of a profile. The question is whether these traits
can also be shared by potential terrorists
(Reinares, 2001). In this attempt at a
comparison, we look below at some of these
traits, which could presumably be common to
both: one would be idealism, in which the
romantic idea of the ability to transform society
toward a destiny that is considered better exists
another, the altruistic willingness to devote
oneself to working and fighting for what he/she
understands will liberate or save the people or
the community and another, the capacity to
submit oneself absolutely to this end with a
certain transcendental quest and, finally,
perhaps also a degree of naivety and affective
immaturity.
As far as the integration in society is concerned,
coincidences can occur in terms of a feeling of
clear dissatisfaction and disillusionment with the
social reality experienced. One of the possible
reasons for this dissatisfaction may arise from
persons not having solid established ties of
belonging to groups, which provide a consistent
social identity (Stahelski, 2005) and being, thus,
in a position to establish them. It would be in
these cases where there may be more
possibilities of success in proselytizing,
including that carried out over the Internet
(Gruen, 2006). This dissatisfaction with the
social reality and the lack of solid ties of
belonging may help to explain, for example,
why young European sons of immigrants who
have suffered from diverse forms of social
exclusion and have experienced strong feelings
of rootlessness and discontentment have joined
Al Qaeda terrorist cells (Javaloy, Espelt, and
Rodríguez-Carballeira, 2005).
