Speaking of terrorist behaviour

Article

Phillips, Peter J. and Pohl, Gabriela. 2022. "Speaking of terrorist behaviour." Crime, Law and Social Change: an interdisciplinary journal. 77 (5), pp. 555-576. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-021-10010-1
Article Title

Speaking of terrorist behaviour

ERA Journal ID35537
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsPhillips, Peter J. (Author) and Pohl, Gabriela (Author)
Journal TitleCrime, Law and Social Change: an interdisciplinary journal
Journal Citation77 (5), pp. 555-576
Number of Pages22
Year2022
Place of PublicationNetherlands
ISSN0925-4994
1573-0751
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-021-10010-1
Web Address (URL)https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10611-021-10010-1
Abstract

Using prospect theory as our core descriptive model of the decision-making process, we explore how behavioural economics can be used to expand what can be said about terrorist behaviour and align the inferences about terrorist behaviour that have been drawn from a diverse collection of disciplines. Prospect theory played a key role in the emergence of behavioural economics and provided many leads that were followed up by subsequent generations of researchers to reveal and explain various interesting quirks and anomalies in human decision-making, especially under conditions of risk and uncertainty. The decision-maker that emerges from behavioural economics is one who makes decisions shaped by a mixture of rationality, emotions, aspirations, reference-dependent choices, loss aversion and habits. When we speak of terrorist decision-making and draw inferences about it from different analytical perspectives, behavioural economics can help us to ensure that our inferences are in accordance with each other and, furthermore, help us to deepen our ‘thinking about terrorists’ thinking’.

KeywordsProspect theory, Decision-making, Terrorist behaviour, Behavioural Economics, Rationality, Emotions, Loss Aversion, Habits
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020380102. Behavioural economics
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Byline AffiliationsFaculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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