The Psychology Of The Extreme

The Psychology of the Extreme provides an accessible introduction to extremism as a force that can affect all aspects of culture and people’s choices in everyday settings.

What does extremism mean? How does it show up in our daily lives? What drives people to extreme behaviors, and how can we learn to live and thrive in the age of overdrive?

The Psychology of the Extreme provides an accessible introduction to extremism as a force that can affect all aspects of culture and people’s choices in everyday settings. It explores the underlying psychology behind what makes people act in extreme ways, whether this is in destructive ways (such as gambling, terrorism and political violence) or in constructive ways (such as successful creators and scientists). The book features an array of case studies that show how extremism can be both pro-social and anti-social and includes interventions to reduce extremism or redirect them toward more positive and constructive tendencies. Offering a new understanding of the individual psychology of extremism, the book will appeal to all those interested in how extremism plays out in people’s and cultures'' day-to-day lives.

Chapter 1: Extremist Dynamics. Chapter 2: Good Extremism, Bad Extremism. Chapter 3: Assessing Your Own Extremism. Chapter 4: Extremism Then and Now. Chapter 5: Narratives of Extremism.
Chapter 6: Mental Health and Extremism. Chapter 7: Extremism in the Social Context. Chapter 8: Love’s Extremes. Chapter 9: Little things that count. Chapter 10: Inviting Extremism to Tea.

The Psychology of the Extreme is psychology at its best—where it is supremely relevant to everyone’s daily life and grounded in impeccable science yet written in a way that any layperson can understand, relate to, and appreciate. The book shows that extremism is becoming more common as the pressures of everyday life increase, but that extremism can be a virtue (e.g., Gandhi) as well as a vice (e.g., Bin Laden). No one will read this book without their life being touched by it. It is destined quickly to become a psychology classic. The book will help everyone understand the puzzling spread of extremism in today’s world. I recommend the book most highly.

--Robert J. Sternberg, Professor, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Honorary Professor of Psychology,University of Heidelberg, Germany

In this book, two of America’s foremost experts on terrorism explain that extremism – and the quest for significance that drives it – can motivate both world-changing scientific discoveries and artistic achievement, but also barbarism, terrorism and war. Extremists’ single-minded commitment to pursuing their goals always comes at a price, whether the objective is national liberation or terrorism. These goals would often be more easily achieved, the authors counsel, through more temperate means. A fascinating, readable study on the roots of extremism, this book is medicine for a polarized age.

--Jessica Stern, Author of Terror in the Name of God, Research Professor at Boston University

Kruglanski & Moskalenko have drawn on their substantial scientific reputation as leading scholars of extremism to deliver a true tour de force – a wide-ranging and highly engaging account of the psychological roots of extremism. Their key premise is that extremists, for good or bad, have a single-minded focus on and unwavering commitment to one dominant need and associated goals and actions, to the exclusion of all other concerns. We can all be prone to this single-mindedness, but in its more extreme form there is a high societal and personal price to such motivational selectivi