Editing Extremism (section)

=== Psychological ===
Among the explanations for extremism is one that views it as a plague. [[Arno Gruen]] said, "The lack of identity associated with extremists is the result of self-destructive self-hatred that leads to feelings of revenge toward life itself, and a compulsion to kill one's own humanness." In this context, extremism is seen as not a tactic, nor an ideology, but as a pathological illness which feeds on the destruction of life.<ref name="ab">Dr. Peter T. Coleman and Dr. Andrea Bartoli: [http://www.tc.columbia.edu/i/a/document/9386_WhitePaper_2_Extremism_030809.pdf Addressing Extremism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924113521/http://www.tc.columbia.edu/i/a/document/9386_WhitePaper_2_Extremism_030809.pdf |date=2015-09-24 }}, pp. 3–4</ref> [[Kathleen Taylor (biologist)|Dr. Kathleen Taylor]] believes [[religious fundamentalism]] is a mental illness and is "curable."<ref>{{cite news |last=Bruxelles |first=Simon de |title=Science 'may one day cure Islamic radicals' |work=[[The Times]]  |location=London |access-date=2013-05-31 |date=30 May 2013 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/science-may-one-day-cure-islamic-radicals-rkffnkxvg85}}</ref> There are distinct psychological features of extremists that contribute to conflict among societal groups; [http://www.janwillemvanprooijen.com/ Jan-Willem van Prooijen] identified them as psychological distress, cognitive simplicity, overconfidence and intolerance.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=van Prooijen|first1=Jan-Willem|last2=Krouwel|first2=André P. M.|date=2019-04-01|title=Psychological Features of Extreme Political Ideologies|journal=Current Directions in Psychological Science|language=en|volume=28|issue=2|pages=159–163|doi=10.1177/0963721418817755|issn=0963-7214|doi-access=free|hdl=1871.1/aac0f2cb-b748-4cbe-b31e-c405a790dd7e|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Another view is that extremism is an emotional outlet for severe feelings stemming from "persistent experiences of oppression, insecurity, humiliation, resentment, loss, and rage" which are presumed to "lead individuals and groups to adopt conflict engagement strategies which "fit" or feel consistent with these experiences".<ref name="ab" />

Extremism is seen by other researchers as a "rational strategy in a game over power",<ref name="ab" /> as described in the works of [[Eli Berman]].

In a 2018 study at [[University College London]], scientists have demonstrated that people with extreme political views (both extreme right and extreme left) had significantly worse metacognition, or the ability of a person to recognize they are wrong and modify their views when presented with contrary evidence, thus creating an opinion that supports only their idea of wrong and right. People found on either of the political extremes were shown to have much greater (but misplaced) confidence in their beliefs, and resisted change.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/radical-politics-extreme-left-right-wing-neuroscience-university-college-london-study-a8687186.html|title=People with extreme political views 'cannot tell when they are wrong', study finds|date=2018-12-17|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2018-12-23}}</ref>

A 2019 study found that political extremism on both the left and right tended to have four common psychological features: psychological distress stimulates the adoption of an extreme ideological outlook, extreme ideologies tend to have relatively simplistic black-white perceptions of the social world, said mental simplicity causes overconfidence in judgements, and political extremists are less tolerant of different groups and opinions than moderates.<ref>van Prooijen, Jan-Willem, and André PM Krouwel. "Psychological Features of Extreme Political Ideologies." Current Directions in Psychological Science (2018): 0963721418817755.</ref>