Transitional processes culminating in extreme violence

Purpose This paper seeks to review transitional processes that foster transitions from non‐aggression to extreme aggression. Most studies on aggression focus either on traits within violent individuals or social contexts that generate violence, less attention has been paid to transitional mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews “long‐term”, i.e. societal transitions that occur prior to and during genocides; mid‐term transitions such as induction into a military or paramilitary societies; and short‐term (situational) transitions that occur in situ . It reviews alterations in emotion, cognition, and behaviour that occur in these transitions and concludes with a description of the generated output behaviours of an extreme and often sadistic nature. Findings The paper concludes with a review of Nell's “Pain‐Blood‐Death” complex as a hypothetical inherited disposition that may be triggered by any or all of these transitional processes leading to cruel aggression. Originality/value The paper raises new concerns about the conceptualizing of extreme violence purely as an outcome of individual pathology and posits instead that a potential for cruelty may be part of our sociobiological heritage as a species. Furthermore, this potential may be tapped into by exposure to toxic war situations resulting in the manifestation of cruel and inhumane treatment of outgroups by soldiers from disparate societies and eras

Aggression · Criminology · Cruelty · Situational ethics · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Psychology · Social Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

• Where do my people go? Fear of extinction among minorities fleeing Bangladesh

  Rajat Kanti Mitra, Pankaj Singh et al.•Journal of Psychosocial Studies•2025

  Incluir item

• Street addiction

  Dessa Bergen‐Cico, Dessa Kristen Bergen-Cico et al.•Addiction Research & Theory•2013

  Incluir item

• Under Sentence of Death

  W Fitzhugh Brundage•Under Sentence of Death•1997

  Incluir item

• Against our will

  Susan Brownmiller•Against our will•1975

  Incluir item

• Neighbors

  Jan T Gross, Jan Gross•Neighbors•2001

  Incluir item

• Affective Neuroscience

  Jaak Panksepp•Affective neuroscience•1998

  Incluir item

• Suicide as escape from self.

  Roy F Baumeister•Psychological Review•1990

  Incluir item

• Obedience to authority

  Stanley Milgram•Obedience to authority•2004

  Incluir item

• The Gestapo and German Society

  Robert Gellately•The Gestapo and German society•1990

  Incluir item

• The Rape of Nanking

  Christopher Barnard•Language, Ideology and Japanese…•2010

  Incluir item

• Psychologie des foules

  Open Access•Gustave Le Bon, Alain Panero•Psychologie des foules•2001

  Incluir item

• The Creation of Dangerous Violent Criminals

  Lonnie Athens, Lonnie H Athens et al.•Creation of Dangerous Violent…•2017

  Incluir item

• The Psychology of Genocide, Massacres, and Extreme Violence

  Donald G Dutton•The Psychology of Genocide,…•2007

  Incluir item

• Attribution Theory and Research

  Harold H Kelley, John L Michela•Annual Review of Psychology•1980

  Incluir item

• The opponent-process theory of acquired motivation

  Richard L Solomon•American Psychologist•1980

  Incluir item

• Who will act badly in toxic situations

  Open Access•Donald G Dutton, Christie Tetreault•Journal of Aggression Conflict…•2009

  Incluir item

• The War of the World

  G John Ikenberry, Niall Ferguson•Foreign Affairs•2006

  Incluir item

• Cultural-societal roots of violence

  Ervin Staub•American Psychologist•1996

  Incluir item

• The efficacy of violence prediction

  Min Yang, Stephen C P Wong et al.•Psychological Bulletin•2010

  Incluir item