Causes, Conflict and Community: Motivating Positive Self-Transcendence
“An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior.”
Viktor Frankl (Frankel, 1946)
Self-transcendent causes are both source of meaning and conflict. The same quest for significance which motivates emotional, physical, or relational benefit similarly motivates violent extremism (Crone, 2022a). These self-transcendent pursuits form and harden through the values of those we value, the relationships and groups we choose, and the degree to which we fuse our own identities with such groups (Crone, 2022b).
To help us find constructive means for satisfying appetite for self-transcendent cause, I will first explain how they are a source of well-being through communal and group relationships. Then motivate an argument of how needs, narratives and networks result in self-transcendent pursuits becoming sources of conflict. Finally, I will offer several constructive means of satisfying the need for meaning by reframing group membership through modelling behavior, reducing uncertainty, and implementing vocational and familial programs.
Self-transcendent causes are nurtured and nourished by trust. Communal relationships model vulnerability, intimacy, and confidence inside of dyads, where wellbeing is fostered through feelings of belonging and relatedness through mutual contribution. More broadly, group memberships provide us with a valued sense of identity, significance and the well-being which comes from association with something bigger than ourselves (Crone, 2022c). Close relationships and group memberships can be sources of approbation, affiliation, and the energizing sense of pride which comes from recognizing our own and others’ success. They satisfy our need for meaning, form self-transcendent narratives, and provide the necessary network support for us to thrive (Crone, 2022b). These relationships give us life. Causes give that life meaning, which in turn is virtuously reciprocated back into energy and motivation.
However, these same dimensions of needs, narratives and networks are also motivating factors for sources of conflict. The individual motivations which satisfy one’s need for significance can also prompt resonance with destructive narratives prescribing a path to attaining such significance. Alignment with the communal relationships and group networks which provide the social context and support to reinforce and satisfy one’s needs and narratives, further solidifies such meaning within individuals (Crone, 2022a). We will take each dimension in turn.
The common thread which unites the diverse motivations for violent extremism is the satisfaction of one's need for personal significance. The need to feel that we matter and that one’s life has meaning. A loss of such significance can accelerate resonance with violent extremism (Crone, 2022a). If such behavior is subsequently directed towards political, ideological, religious, social, or economic goals, these narratives might satisfy, legitimize, and provide a path for fulfilling one’s individual needs. Narratives provide the sense-making, but also the roadmap for achieving personal significance. But these narratives don’t exist in a vacuum. They are strongly influenced by societal and cultural networks, where valuing that which those we value hold to be true, forms the moral guideposts for our own behaviors (Crone, 2022c). These networks broaden and build narrative. They reinforce it as a means towards achieving the needs we seek in pursuit of our individual well-being.
If we focus on the dimension of uncertainty, we can craft a productive path towards more positive outcomes (Hogg, 2014). Uncertainty reduction motivates the pursuit of sense-making and is a strong source of constructive meaning and well-being. Uncertainty can be unsettling and aversive, and we unsurprisingly seek the swiftest route towards its resolution. If we pursue the means to reduce the uncertainty of our perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors towards others, and support such initiatives through vocational and familial programs, we can actively de-escalate the risk of negative self-transcendent affiliation (Hogg, 2014). Programs involving voluntary participation in religious ceremonies, educational and vocational training, the facilitation of familial contact, the reframing of group relationships, and the deliberate supportive intervention of needs, narratives and networks which provide more constructive sources of meaning all provide evidence of both rehabilitation and extremism reduction within radicalized communities. They reframe one’s need for personal significance, expose the individual to broader perspectives and narratives, and model behavior from more positive and constructive networks. (Hogg, 2014).
The significance we seek in the pursuit of well-being and the good life can be both constructive and destructive. But through focusing on the needs, narratives, and networks we choose to align with, participate in, listen to, and surround ourselves with, we can reframe them to support more constructive, positive outcomes. We can actively augment and facilitate less conflict and suffering, reappraise the morally questionable, and most importantly, achieve the personal significance that’s so essential to our well-being.
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