Research on parochial altruism demonstrated that hostility toward out-groups (parochialism) represents the dark side of the willingness to benefit one's in-group even at own costs (altruism). Parochial aggression thereby emerged mainly under conditions of threat. Extremist propaganda videos, for instance by right-wing extremists, try to capitalize on parochial altruistic mechanism by telling re...

Due to the explosive growth of Web 2.0 technologies and related services/applications in recent years, we have witnessed the convergence of the technological networks that connect computers on the Internet and the social networks that have linked humans for millennia. The growing popularity of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, del.icio.us, Flickr, YouTube, PatientsLike...

Two years ago the writer found plenty of evidence. Red flags, censored newspapers, directed excursions, indoctrinated schools, motivated plays, didactic pictures, and continuous radio messages preach communism. Appeals to the need for security and class loyalty, dogmatic assertion of Marxian philosophy, the example of leaders, and calls to participation are used as incentives to action. The res...

Article history: Received 13 April 2016 Available online 28 December 2016 JEL classification: D83

Although it is known that terrorists already routinely use the Internet for purposes such as spreading propaganda or conducting internal communication, the threat that results from this use is heavily debated. Especially the question whether a cyber terrorist attack is imminent or if it is only a purely fictitious scenario is subject to many discussions. One reason for these differences in opin...

This paper discusses the concept of terrorism, who the terrorists are and develops an understanding of why they conduct the activities they do. Understanding the mens rea of the attacker will allow consideration of the type of attack they may plan and the effect they are likely to try and achieve. It looks at the main motivations of terrorist groups and discusses their use of the Internet for v...

The essence of the art of propaganda is to influence people to believe and do things which they would not believe or do without the effect of propaganda. It is therefore a form of suggestion? suggestion, in its narrow sense, meaning a tendency for the human 'find to accept something communicated to it as a fact in the absence of any logical grounds for its acceptance.

Politicians, philosophers, and rhetors engage in co-value argumentation: appealing to one value in order to support another value (e.g., "equality leads to freedom"). Across four experiments in the United Kingdom and India, we found that the psychological relatedness of values affects the persuasiveness of the arguments that bind them. Experiment 1 found that participants were more persuaded by...