Psychological and Personality Profiles of Political Extremists
This research addresses the psychological underpinnings of political extremism, providing empirical insights for policymakers and social scientists, though it is incremental by applying existing theories to new social media data.
The study investigated whether political extremism is driven by rational responses or psychological factors by analyzing Twitter messages from over 355,000 extremist followers compared to non-extremists. It found support for moral foundation theory, linking emotion to political orientation, and differences in four Big Five personality traits among extremists.
Global recruitment into radical Islamic movements has spurred renewed interest in the appeal of political extremism. Is the appeal a rational response to material conditions or is it the expression of psychological and personality disorders associated with aggressive behavior, intolerance, conspiratorial imagination, and paranoia? Empirical answers using surveys have been limited by lack of access to extremist groups, while field studies have lacked psychological measures and failed to compare extremists with contrast groups. We revisit the debate over the appeal of extremism in the U.S. context by comparing publicly available Twitter messages written by over 355,000 political extremist followers with messages written by non-extremist U.S. users. Analysis of text-based psychological indicators supports the moral foundation theory which identifies emotion as a critical factor in determining political orientation of individuals. Extremist followers also differ from others in four of the Big Five personality traits.