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

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dc.contributor.authorKunst, Jonas R.
dc.contributor.authorBesta, Tomasz
dc.contributor.authorJaśkiewicz, Michał
dc.contributor.authorGajda, Anna Natalia
dc.contributor.authorSanden, Markus
dc.contributor.authorEskiili, Barkan
dc.date.accessioned2026-04-16T11:54:22Z
dc.date.available2026-04-16T11:54:22Z
dc.date.issued2026
dc.departmentFakülteler, İktisadi, İdari ve Sosyal Bilimler Fakültesi, Psikoloji Bölümü
dc.description.abstractEvolutionary theory and historical evidence suggest humans possess distinct psychological tendencies for defensive and offensive violence, which have insufficiently been considered in research. In a large-scale preregistered study across 58 countries (N = 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 of 58 countries, suggesting greater moral acceptance of protective violence. While psychopathy was positively related to both types of violent extremist intentions, those high in Machiavellianism and narcissism demonstrated particularly higher levels of defensive extremist intentions. By contrast, those scoring high on religious fundamentalism and social dominance orientation demonstrated particularly higher levels of offensive extremist intentions. Unexpectedly, liberal political group identification was associated with higher offensive but lower defensive extremist intentions. Crucially, offensive (but not defensive) intentions were associated with macrolevel societal dysfunction, including political terror and internal conflict. These findings establish that defensive and offensive violent extremist intentions represent two conceptually different forms of extremism across a large and diverse range of countries, with consequences for research and practice.
dc.description.sponsorshipSungkyunkwan University ; IGDORE Sweden Foundation ; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology ; Riksbankens Jubileumsfond ; Vedecká Grantová Agentúra MŠVVaŠ SR a SAV ; Higher Education and Science Committee of MESCS Armenia ; Narodowe Centrum Nauki ; European Research Council ; European Commission ; Agentúra na Podporu Výskumu a Vývoja ; Hrvatska Zaklada za Znanost ; Grantová Agentura České Republiky
dc.identifier.doi10.1073/pnas.2535665123
dc.identifier.issn0027-8424
dc.identifier.issue13
dc.identifier.pmid41875164
dc.identifier.scopus2-s2.0-105034226926
dc.identifier.scopusqualityQ1
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2535665123
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11501/2687
dc.identifier.volume123
dc.identifier.wosWOS:001761131300001
dc.identifier.wosqualityQ1
dc.indekslendigikaynakScopus
dc.indekslendigikaynakPubMed
dc.indekslendigikaynakWeb of Science
dc.institutionauthorEskiili, Barkan
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherNational Academy of Sciences
dc.relation.ispartofProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
dc.relation.publicationcategoryMakale - Uluslararası Hakemli Dergi - Kurum Öğretim Elemanı
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.subjectDefensive
dc.subjectEvolution
dc.subjectOffensive
dc.subjectPsychology
dc.subjectViolent Extremism
dc.titleThe psychology of offensive and defensive intergroup violence: preregistered insights from 58 countries
dc.typeArticle

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