Virtual reality as a tool for deradicalizing the terrorist mind: Conceptual and methodological insights from intergroup conflict resolution and perspective-taking research.

Abstract

The radicalization of individuals and related commitment of acts of extreme violence, such as terrorism, have become one of the main societal concerns over the past years. Radicalization refers to a complex psychosocial process through which individuals adopt increasingly extreme convictions. The field of individuals’ deradicalization has attracted the interest of scholars and policymakers in recent years, and establishment of actual deradicalization programs has involved various components. The main aim of the current article is to propose an innovative methodological component for deradicalization programs based on immersive virtual reality (VR) technology. Accordingly, the development of the methodological implementation is primarily grounded in the emergent research field of intergroup conflict resolution and perspective-taking that employs VR technology-based experiments. Although, VR-based intervention does not provide a perfect answer to all of the challenges related to individuals’ deradicalization from extremism, it offers an interesting perspective to address certain relevant issues in the field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)