{"id":15748,"date":"2026-06-02T16:19:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/?p=15748"},"modified":"2026-06-03T08:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:46:31","slug":"the-resilience-of-radicalism-overcoming-psychological-defences-in-deradicalisation-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/06\/02\/the-resilience-of-radicalism-overcoming-psychological-defences-in-deradicalisation-work\/","title":{"rendered":"The Resilience of Radicalism. Overcoming Psychological Defences in Deradicalisation Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why do some extremists\u00a0<\/span>deradicalise<\/span>\u00a0when confronted with counter-narratives or positive intergroup contact, while others entrench even deeper into their beliefs? While the external factors that pull people away from radical milieus are well documented, the internal psychological\u00a0<\/span>defences<\/span>\u00a0used to resist doubt are\u00a0<\/span>frequently<\/span>\u00a0overlooked. Drawing on interviews with former extremists, this Spotlight describes the unconscious\u00a0<\/span>defence<\/span>\u00a0strategies that allow\u00a0<\/span>radicalised<\/span>\u00a0individuals to reduce cognitive dissonance and sustain their extremist attitudes.<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Research on the Prevention and Countering of Violent Extremism (P\/CVE) has long focused on \u2018push and pull\u2019 factors that drive individuals toward or away from extremism. We know that unmet expectations, fear of repression, isolation, or the allure of a normal life can pull people away from radical milieus. However, what is missing from this literature is a deeper understanding of the psychological processes that\u00a0determine\u00a0why these factors work for some individuals while leaving others unaffected.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Psychological experiments have long shown how inducing cognitive dissonance \u2013 the discomfort caused by conflicting thoughts, beliefs, or emotions \u2013 can successfully shift attitudes. P\/CVE interventions often implicitly rely on this mechanism, as most of the mentioned push and pull factors cause dissonance. However,\u00a0radicalised\u00a0individuals rarely relinquish their core beliefs easily. Instead, they usually\u00a0exhibit\u00a0what I term a \u2018resilience of radicalism\u2019 by employing specific, often unconscious strategies to reduce the discomfort of dissonance without abandoning extremism. By understanding these mechanisms, P\/CVE practitioners can better\u00a0anticipate\u00a0and inhibit these\u00a0rationalisations, and thus design more effective interventions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The double-edged sword of dissonance<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Under highly\u00a0favourable\u00a0circumstances, cognitive dissonance relating to a\u00a0person\u2018s extremist attitudes can have a rapid disengaging effect. For example, Joanna, a Polish neo-Nazi, had a friendly positive encounter with a South Asian man during a trip to England, directly contradicting her white supremacist beliefs. Combined with\u00a0favourable\u00a0conditions \u2013 geographical distance from peers, concealed tattoos, and ongoing family support \u2013 this dissonance shattered her worldview, leading her to abandon the extremist group within weeks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Joanna\u2019s story is an anomaly. More often, when confronted with their own hypocrisy, doubt, or conflicting emotions,\u00a0radicalised\u00a0individuals employ defensive coping strategies. For example, David, a Spanish neo-Nazi, developed a relationship with a woman he perceived as \u2018mixed race\u2019.\u00a0Rather than abandoning his ideology, he resolved\u00a0the psychological\u00a0discomfort by ending the relationship. He interpreted this as a heroic act of self-sacrifice, proving to himself that he was a \u2018truly worthy\u2019 National Socialist. These two examples illustrate how even positive intergroup contact, often touted as having high\u00a0deradicalising\u00a0potential, can sometimes backfire.\u00a0Deradicalisation\u00a0does not simply occur\u00a0as a result of\u00a0disruptive events and experiences \u2013 the push and pull factors \u2013 but\u00a0as a result of\u00a0what an individual makes of them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more:<\/div>
This text is a summary of a recently published open-access article that is an outcome of a research project funded by the German Research Foundation (grant number: 528853785). For a comprehensive discussion on methodology, anonymisation and other ethical considerations, as well as key scholarly literature such as the psychological works on cognitive dissonance, readers are directed to the full article: Kurzwelly, J. (2026). The Resilience of Radicalism: Strategies for reducing dissonance and sustaining extremist attitudes, Journal for Deradicalization. https:\/\/journals.sfu.ca\/jd\/index.php\/jd\/article\/view\/1197<\/a>. <\/div><\/div>\n

Strategies for sustaining extremist attitudes<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Facing contradictions, individuals use several strategies to alleviate psychological discomfort without significantly challenging their overarching extremist framework. As Leon Festinger posited, individuals may resolve dissonance by changing\u00a0behavioural\u00a0or environmental cognitive elements, or by adding new consonant cognitions. Building on Festinger and my research interviews, I\u00a0identified\u00a0five primary strategies\u00a0radicalised\u00a0individuals use to reduce dissonance and sustain extremist attitudes:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0<\/span>Adding or adapting consonant or dissonant cognitions:<\/span><\/i>\u00a0Individuals\u00a0frequently\u00a0maintain\u00a0their extremism by introducing new justifications or adapting existing beliefs. For instance, when David served in the military, he noticed that several soldiers whom he\u00a0categorised\u00a0as \u2018mixed race\u2019 behaved very\u00a0honourably. This contradicted his racist\u00a0perception\u00a0of these soldiers as inferior. To resolve this dissonance, he concluded that it must be their \u2018white genes\u2019 that dictate their good conduct.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In other instances, individuals\u00a0establish\u00a0mental shortcuts to bypass logic altogether. Take the example of Salma, a young Spanish woman embedded in a Salafist milieu. She began to question the religious prohibition against eating pork, wondering if it\u00a0remained\u00a0relevant given modern hygienic standards. When a spiritual leader told her that \u2018God knows better\u2019,\u00a0she\u00a0internalised\u00a0this phrase as a default response.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Crucially, while this specific dietary prohibition is a mainstream religious practice and inherently non-extremist, the cognitive mechanism Salma adopted is highly relevant to P\/CVE. By using \u2018God knows better\u2019 as a mental shortcut, she effectively closed off all future critical inquiry. In highly dogmatic milieus \u2013 where the lines between conservatism, religious fundamentalism, political Islamism, and violent Jihadist sympathies are often blurred \u2013 learning to systematically suppress seemingly benign, indirect doubts through such mental shortcuts provides the psychological scaffolding required to sustain much more dangerous, radical attitudes when they are challenged later on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0<\/span>Changing the relative importance of dissonant cognitions<\/span><\/i>: To alleviate discomfort, individuals may change their evaluation of a specific dissonant cognition. Salma experienced profound boredom after adapting her life to doctrinal prescriptions and longed to ride a bicycle \u2013 an activity prohibited for women within her specific ideological milieu. To resolve the dissonance between her desire and her ideology, she reasoned that the prohibition was \u2018cultural\u2019 rather than doctrinal and thus breaking it was merely challenging a human custom and not a divine prescription. She changed the importance ascribed to\u00a0the dissonant\u00a0prohibition. This allowed her to ride her bicycle without feeling she was compromising her religious devotion, but also without mounting a serious challenge to her overall attitudes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0<\/span>Changing the\u00a0perception\u00a0of consequences<\/span><\/i>: A person can reduce dissonance by altering how they view the outcomes of their\u00a0behaviours. This often overlaps with other strategies, as seen in the earlier example of Salma finding a way to justify cycling. Previously, she believed breaking this taboo carried severe spiritual and social penalties. However, once she reframed the prohibition as a human custom rather than a divine law, she downgraded the consequences to purely socio-cultural ones. Removing the perceived spiritual stakes allowed her to easily dismiss the disapproving \u2018looks\u2019 from bystanders without questioning her broader religious commitments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In more extreme cases, when confronted with the severe real-world consequences of their actions \u2013 such as causing physical harm to others \u2013\u00a0radicalised\u00a0individuals often resolve the resulting discomfort by\u00a0minimising\u00a0the damage or convincing themselves that the victim \u2018deserved it\u2019.\u00a0By\u00a0reframing\u00a0negative outcomes as negligible, provoked, ideologically necessary, or even heroic, they\u00a0neutralise\u00a0the dissonance that might otherwise prompt them to abandon their violent methods.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

4)\u00a0<\/span>Attributing dissonance to a different source<\/span><\/i>: To protect the core ideology from doubt, individuals may attribute psychological discomfort to their own shortcomings, or to other alternative sources, rather than to an ideological or attitudinal inconsistency. When David was challenged to read a book by Karl Marx, he found that the text did not align with the image of Marx as the \u2018source of evil\u2019 his neo-Nazi literature described. Rather than questioning his ideology, he concluded: \u2018It must be me. I must be stupid and\u00a0unworthy\u2019.\u00a0He salvaged the ideology at the cost of his own self-worth.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

5)\u00a0<\/span>Making sacrifices<\/span><\/i>: As seen in\u00a0David\u2018s decision to abandon a romantic relationship, individuals can resolve dissonance and reaffirm their radical identity by sacrificing personal desires to prove their ideological worth.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In practice, dissonance reduction is complex, and a single\u00a0rationalisation\u00a0can span multiple strategies at once. Salma\u2019s \u2018God knows better\u2019 mental shortcut is a perfect example: it simultaneously adds a new cognition, diminishes the importance of her specific doubt, and attributes the unanswered question to a different source (to human cognitive limitation rather than to a shortcoming of doctrinal rationality). The five categories outlined above are not mutually exclusive, but an analytical framework to help us\u00a0recognise\u00a0these mental gymnastics in action.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Characteristics of effective cognitive dissonance<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Experiences of dissonance can have varying effects. Several characteristics influence their potential to promote attitudinal change:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0<\/span>Relative centrality and\u00a0magnitude<\/span><\/i>: The effect relies heavily on how crucial\u00a0the conflicting\u00a0beliefs are to the overall ideological framework. Dominik, a Polish far-right nationalist, abandoned his homophobia after a close relative confided they were gay. However, because his homophobia was not the sole pillar of his worldview, he simply\u00a0reprioritised\u00a0his activism toward anti-migrant and nationalist activities,\u00a0remaining\u00a0firmly embedded in his nationalist group, resulting in only partial\u00a0deradicalisation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0<\/span>Persistence across time and context<\/span><\/i>: An experience of dissonance is easily dismissed if it is isolated. David once mistook disruptive Spanish tourists in Germany for migrants from outside of\u00a0Europe, and\u00a0felt intense discomfort after\u00a0realising\u00a0his error. Because it was a fleeting moment, he was able to easily ignore it and returned to his\u00a0previous\u00a0habits.\u00a0With the exception of\u00a0such rare cases as the\u00a0above described\u00a0example of Joanna, sustained dissonance is\u00a0required\u00a0for impact.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0<\/span>Threat to self-esteem and identity<\/span><\/i>: The likelihood of change depends on how severely the dissonance challenges an\u00a0individual\u2018s core identity or self-image. Witnessing sheer hypocrisy within the in-group often\u00a0strikes at\u00a0the foundational belief in the\u00a0group\u2018s righteousness. Similarly, confronting the undeniable reality of\u00a0one\u2018s own actions can shatter extremist justifications. For example, Luis, a Peruvian migrant to Poland who had adopted a violently confrontational strategy against racists, viewed his aggression as righteous. However, after\u00a0witnessing\u00a0the severe visible trauma of one of his victims, the dissonance between his self-image as a protector and the reality of the harm he caused became too great. He could no longer justify the violence and\u00a0subsequently\u00a0abandoned\u00a0these extreme tactics.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Deradicalisation\u00a0is seldom the result of a single epiphany, a single experience of dissonance, and\u00a0<\/span>requires internal cumulative build-up as well as\u00a0favourable\u00a0external material and social conditions<\/span><\/i>. Attitudinal change typically stems from a build-up of multiple, sustained experiences of dissonance that slowly overwhelm a\u00a0person\u2018s defensive coping strategies. Experiences of dissonance that initially had no\u00a0deradicalising\u00a0effect can still later contribute to such a cumulative effect, as was the case with many of the\u00a0above described\u00a0persons who remembered and reinterpreted the dissonant experiences sometimes many years later. Beyond the characteristics of the specific occurrence of dissonance, it is also important for it to occur in a generally\u00a0favourable\u00a0context that makes alternatives\u00a0viable, such as in the\u00a0above described\u00a0case of Joanna.\u00a0Radicalised\u00a0individuals often have\u00a0a number of\u00a0social,\u00a0psychological\u00a0or even material dependencies on the extremist group and on their attitudes, which can actively foreclose the choice of alternative paths.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Implications for P\/CVE practice<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Understanding these characteristics and strategies can allow practitioners to\u00a0more effectively leverage cognitive dissonance. Any consideration of doing so, however, must be done with rigorous oversight. Deliberately inducing profound dissonance without\u00a0monitoring\u00a0the person\u2019s coping capacity, and without providing\u00a0a viable, safe exit route, can cause severe psychological distress. In\u00a0David\u2018s case, the overwhelming accumulation of unresolved dissonance, coupled with his inability to imagine an identity outside of neo-Nazism,\u00a0ultimately pushed\u00a0him to the brink of suicide. Interventions must be grounded in evidence and carried out with adherence to strict ethical standards by trained professionals. The goal is not merely to break an extremist worldview, but to meticulously construct the conditions under which abandoning that worldview becomes\u00a0a viable, safe choice.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Only once this supportive scaffolding is in place should P\/CVE interventions plan for inducing\u00a0different kinds\u00a0of dissonance. When doing so, the above findings suggest that it is important to\u00a0attempt\u00a0to induce dissonance that is central to the given ideological framework and poses a challenge to related social identities. To overcome ingrained cognitive habits and ensure that a single occurrence of dissonance is not simply ignored or forgotten, practitioners must actively sustain the dissonant experience, for example by returning to it on multiple occasions and discussing it in relation to different aspects of the client\u2019s life. Furthermore, to increase the cumulative effect of distinct doubts or conflicting emotions and attitudes, it could be beneficial to discuss the connections between them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Crucially, P\/CVE practice should not simply \u2018generate doubt\u2019,\u00a0but also actively\u00a0identify\u00a0and inhibit the defensive\u00a0rationalisation\u00a0strategies that sustain radical or extremist attitudes. For example, if practitioners\u00a0anticipate\u00a0that a client might attribute a contradiction to their own intellectual failure, they can prepare interventions that block that specific route of\u00a0rationalisation. However, given the highly\u00a0individualised\u00a0ways in which people process cognitions and emotions, along with the issue of clients masking their cognitive states and concealing non-compliance,\u00a0identifying\u00a0internal dissonance or the strategies of its reduction through\u00a0behavioural\u00a0cues is\u00a0highly complex\u00a0and might not always be possible. The above-described mechanisms should thus be used to inform\u00a0practitioner\u00a0training and reflection, rather than for designing rigid operational protocols. Ultimately, dismantling a radical ideology is only a fraction of the work. When the certainties of extremism are stripped away, practitioners must ensure the individual has a secure, meaningful, and supportive reality to step into.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Download (pdf): Kurzwelly, Jonatan <\/span> (2026<\/span>): The Resilience of Radicalism. Overcoming Psychological Defences in Deradicalisation Work<\/span>, PRIF Spotlight<\/span>, 7<\/span>, Frankfurt\/M<\/span>.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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Why do some extremists deradicalise when confronted with counter-narratives or positive intergroup contact, while others entrench even deeper into their beliefs? While the external factors that pull people away from radical milieus are well documented, the internal psychological defences used to resist doubt are frequently overlooked. Drawing on interviews with former extremists, this Spotlight describes the unconscious defence strategies that allow radicalised individuals to reduce cognitive dissonance and sustain their extremist attitudes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":15739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1125,1112],"tags":[1227,1283],"coauthors":[1062],"class_list":["post-15748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-en","category-prif-spotlight","tag-extremism","tag-prevention-of-extremism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Resilience of Radicalism. 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Drawing on interviews with former extremists, this Spotlight describes the unconscious defence strategies that allow radicalised individuals to reduce cognitive dissonance and sustain their extremist attitudes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/en\/2026\/06\/02\/the-resilience-of-radicalism-overcoming-psychological-defences-in-deradicalisation-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PRIF BLOG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/HSFK.PRIF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T14:19:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T06:46:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.prif.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/The-Resilience-of-Radicalism-.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1875\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1025\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonatan Kurzwelly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HSFK_PRIF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@HSFK_PRIF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonatan Kurzwelly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.prif.org\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/02\\\/the-resilience-of-radicalism-overcoming-psychological-defences-in-deradicalisation-work\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.prif.org\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/02\\\/the-resilience-of-radicalism-overcoming-psychological-defences-in-deradicalisation-work\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jonatan Kurzwelly\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.prif.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed778a5e30bba88d698309de032f4339\"},\"headline\":\"The Resilience of Radicalism. 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