Extremism in society is the source of enormous human suffering and represents a significant social problem. This issue of the Journal of Social Issues assembles a set of 11 empirical and theoretical articles from leading social psychologists to examine the psychological relationship between uncertainty and extremism. The key question that is examined is whether, to what extent and in what fashion do feelings of uncertainty lead people to behave individually or collectively in ways that can be considered extremist – does uncertainty play a causal role in zealotry, fundamentalism, attitudinal rigidity, ideological orthodoxy, intolerance of dissent, violent social disruption, authoritarian leadership, and so forth.
MichaelA. Hogg is Professor of Social Psychology at Claremont Graduate University and president of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. He is the 2010 recipient of the Diener mid-career award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology; foundation editor of Group Processes and Intergroup Relations; former associate editor of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology; and a fellow of numerous scholarly associations including the Association for Psychological Science and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. His extensively published research on social identity theory, group processes and intergroup relations, has a recent focus on influence and leadership, and uncertainty and extremism.
Arie W. Kruglanski is a Distinguished University Professor and co-director of START (National Center for the Study of Terrorism and the Response to Terrorism) at the University of Maryland, College Park. Kruglanski is a recipient of the National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Award, the Senior Humboldt Award, the Donald Campbell Award for Outstanding Contributions to Social Psychology, and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. He has served as editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and associate editor of the American Psychologist. Kruglanski's research focuses on human judgment and decision making, the motivation-cognition >interface, and group and intergroup processes. It has been disseminated in over 250 publications, and has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health, among others.
