articleProceedings of the National Academy of SciencesMar 24, 2026HYBRID OA

The psychology of offensive and defensive intergroup violence: Preregistered insights from 58 countries

JRJonas R. KunstTBTomasz BestaMJMichał JaśkiewiczANAnna Natalia GajdaMSMarkus Sanden

BI Norwegian Business School · University of Gdańsk · +86 more institutions

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Abstract

= 18,128), we demonstrate that violent extremist intentions manifest along two distinct psychological phenomena: defensive extremism, motivated by protecting one's group from (perceived) threats, and offensive extremism, driven by establishing group dominance. We show that these dimensions a) can be reliably differentiated across diverse cultural contexts, b) are distinctively associated with psychological dispositions, and c) systematically differentiate countries varying in macrolevel sociopolitical functioning and violence. Across nations, a two-factorial structure was observed that was invariant at the scalar level. Defensive extremist intentions were consistently higher than offensive extremism in 56 out…

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Authors

113
  • JR
    Jonas R. KunstCorresponding

    BI Norwegian Business School

  • TB
    Tomasz Besta

    University of Gdańsk

  • MJ
    Michał Jaśkiewicz

    University of Gdańsk

  • AN
    Anna Natalia Gajda

    University of Gdańsk

  • MS
    Markus Sanden

    University of Oslo

Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Offensive
  • Machiavellianism
  • Narcissism
  • Social dominance orientation
  • Dominance (genetics)
  • Politics
  • Biology and political orientation
  • Mortality salience
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Gender equality
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