Talking to the Enemy - 1934 Words

Psych 253 Book Review: Talking to the Enemy Richard Marion In his book Talking to the Enemy (2010), Scott Atran uses his experiences in the countries often perceived as the origin of most global terrorist actions against the United States combined with scientific proof from a wide variety of sources to argue for new methods of understanding and stopping terrorism as it exists today. Though many examples and analyses of terrorist acts are examined in the book along with many different explanations for the social and psychological mechanisms that may cause them, one of the central ideas is the power of social bonds to drive people to commit actions that they never would have considered alone. This paper will analyze Atrans argument as†¦show more content†¦389), without a more diverse selection to examine it is hard to 2 say whether the students relative willingness to kill non-Muslims is resultant from their perception of non-Muslims as less like them or if it has been drawn directly from the teachings they have received. It should be noted that another finding of social psychology is that attitudes and behaviour are generally not strongly correlated (Eibach, 2012) and that when taken alone the interviews do not show a direct correlation with violent actions. However, other references that are made both in the book and within Atrans research does lead to a more conclusive link. Ultimately despite the weakness of its small sample size and the fact that it only shows an explicit attitude rather than behaviours that might be resultant from that attitude, the research is persuasive in that it shows a clear link between the degree to which outsiders are seen as being unlike the students and the degree to which they display hostile attitudes towards outsiders. In addition, this has been shown in a way th at is highly relevant to ideas and facts presented in Talking to the Enemy, in that the students from the JI affiliated madrasa were far more likely than the others to endorse violence, and in fact within the same study it is stated that â€Å"JI-linked madrasa attendance rates of the jihadists that took part in... (a number of prolific bombings) are 19 times greater than the highest estimated rates of the general population.†Show MoreRelatedSimilarities And Differences Between Greece And Rome1457 Words   |  6 Pagesvocal points when bringing up similarities and differences between Greece and Rome. The two vocal points I feel strongly about are both their military and leadership. When talking about their militaries we have two of the strongest forces to ever grace the earth. When talking about their respective cultures we are talking about beliefs that spread nationwide. These are the similarities and differences between Greece and Rome. If there was anything that Rome and Greece where known for itRead MoreHow Small Details Influence a Victory in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game700 Words   |  3 Pagesabout battle school. He was explaining the battles to her and said, â€Å" Every time, I’ve won because I could understand the way my enemy thought† (Card 238). 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Many people would never think of making