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Clark McCauley

is Research Professor of Psychology at Bryn Mawr College.

Clark McCauley is Research Professor of Psychology at Bryn Mawr College. His research interests include stereotypes, group dynamics, and the psychological foundations of ethnic conflict and genocide. He is co-author of Why Not Kill Them All? The Logic and Prevention of Mass Political Murder (2006), co-author of Friction: How Radicalization Happens to Them and Us (2011, second edition 2017), co-author of The Marvel of Martyrdom: The Power of Self-Sacrifice in a Selfish World (2018), and Founding Editor emeritus of the journal Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict: Pathways toward Terrorism and Genocide. He is a lead investigator with the National Consortium for Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).

Authored by

Clark McCauley

January 30, 2020

Extremist Violence Has Its Roots in Morality, Not Ideology

The ideology behind extremist violence looks remarkably like the “moral sentiments” of empathy, indignation, and shame that are presumed to confer fitness advantages in human social interactions.

Politics

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