Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 4

PSYCHOLOGY OF THE LONE WOLF

By
Sabbah Uddin
It is a lone wolf attack. The London Bridge terrorist twenty eight
years young Usman Khan had no body other in his group and did
the act of killing two people and wounding three others at his own.
London Police has also
confirmed the same that they 
are not actively seeking any It takes a simple story of
other suspect as yet who could be part of the terror injustice and cruelty
attack. There is much more to write and say about against ones tribe, caste or
religion, to arouse the lone
psychology of such attacks but it cannot be covered
actor to act towards an
under one topic. aggressive action. Beyond
doubt this motivation has
Usman Khan had been living in the north of roots in physiological,
Birmingham and had been known to law behavioral, cognitive and
enforcement authorities since he was one of the social areas of a terrorist.
nine-persons who plotted to blow London Stock

Exchange in 2012. There are many qualifications of
a potential lone wolf. He has the willingness, a “stimulus” to generate willingness and
“motives” by means of which he is persuaded to get recruited or perform acts of terror
and violence at his own. The law enforcement outfits have to understand that the
complete process of transformation of such an individual. Transformation of a lone wolf
is developmental till the time he reaches the recruiting pitch. Lot many factors play during
this time. His religious beliefs, his response to various interpretations are most significant
ones. If he is not happy with the present regime of his country or cannot understand the
political issues rather interprets these as per his own understanding, he is likely fall for

https://dailytimes.com.pk/writer/sabbahuddin/
https://twitter.com/sabbahuddin
terrorist narrative pretty soon thus his transformation would be expedited. The whole
process may extend over few weeks, few months even a year.

Human are more complex and more diverse in their nature, to be understood through any
theory or any idea of a social scientist. Yet, an effort can be made to peek inside human
mind that determines the behavior. A number of theories exist about the psychoanalysis
of human mind which provide a base to modern social and psychological scientists to
build their own models. These theories give an insight into human motivational forces,
drives, refusal to accept external realities, retreat into fantasy in order to resolve inner
and outer conflicts, idealization that further lead towards somatization. A simple motive is
sufficient for a lone wolf to get excited and do malicious acts without remorse. Providing
someone with a motive for some action is motivation which is available in surroundings
of a lone wolf; fanatic clerics, friends, internet, social media all play a role to motivate such
elements. Motive is the cause; motivation is being caused, or the causing. It takes a
simple story of injustice and cruelty against ones tribe, caste or religion, to arouse the
lone actor to act towards an aggressive action. Beyond doubt this motivation has roots in
physiological, behavioral, cognitive and social areas of a terrorist. People are motivated
to behave in certain ways because they are evolutionarily programmed to do so.
Researchers have developed a number of different theories to explain motivation but
each individual theory tends to be rather limited in scope. However, by looking at the key
ideas behind each theory, we can gain a better understanding of motivation as a whole
that will help us Usman Khan.

Having gone through the subject as deep as a layman can go, what I have understood is
by trying to combine and amalgamate many of existing yet separate theories, the stimuli
is generated by the own mind processes as well as external events that occur in our
environment. This stimulus is turned into a strong energy (drive or desire) due to our inner
latent urges and needs. In other words drive or desire is the visible and expressed by our
needs and urges. Besides this the drive draws its energy form “Arousal” (factor that allows
people to seek what they require by performing activity) which we always try to keep
balanced. The drive and desire when given a chance to present themselves in tangible
realm reflects behavior. The channel which the drive uses for expression is “Habit” of that
particular individual. Thus the stimulus, drive / desire and habits of a person determine

https://dailytimes.com.pk/writer/sabbahuddin/
https://twitter.com/sabbahuddin
his behavior. Incentive which is an intangible factor helps an individual to constantly move
forward. The entire chain from stimulus to behavior will come to a halt if the incentive dies
or looses significance. While studying people like London bridge terrorist, we need to see
what stimulus existed in the lone wolfs surrounding or how environments in his
surrounding fiddled with his personality to generate a stimulus which generate sufficient
energy (drive or desire) to stab two innocent people to death. Whether is there a possibility
that an assumed internal stimulus (his mind process and thinking) in a lone wolf is
reinforced by an external one? Are there sufficient motives to be identified that generated
drive and desire? How was he “aroused” and awaken to do such a crime? What were his
habits and how they channelize the energy his drive into this undesired behavior? Was
there sufficient incentive (besides his other motives i.e. needs and instincts) for him to put
finesse in his work? All these questions need to be addressed while understanding why
such incidents happen.
Terrorism and extremism is a deviation from our normal behavior in our daily life. We may
call any individual or group of individual who demonstrate deviation from normal behavior
a “Deviant”. Deviant, in simple words means, the act being different from the popular
belief, usually in a bad way. The general population determines the deviant behavior.
Thus the lone wolves or terrorists are deviants. The list for known deviant behavior is too
long but each of the deviant behavior has acceptance amongst some people or
communities amongst us. Prostitution, homosexuality, abortion suicide, cannibalism, drug
use, crime, murder are all sort of deviations. Some may be deviations are benign and can
only be reflected in novels like “Fifty shades of gray”. Recent studies have shown that
even a gang affiliation is included in the long list of deviant behavior which relates more
with the terrorists and criminals. What generates “Deviant behavior” is a difficult question
to answer and must be left for specialists in relevant field. But such acts of violence and
terrorism can definitely be seen in the realm of deviation.
Presence of a lone wolf in a particular area tends to have a caustic influence upon people
around him. A lone wolf has a natural tendency to gather other deviants around himself
as it is natural inclination to search for his own kind because the pressures of society. He
will be uncomfortable unless he is with his own like-minded deviants. How he persuades
others to follow his footsteps and ultimately raises his gang, is the subject of another

https://dailytimes.com.pk/writer/sabbahuddin/
https://twitter.com/sabbahuddin
column. However such incidents make us more worried to think that the likes of the
London Bridge Wolf may still be lurking in our streets.

Writer is a versatile analyst and a speaker on contemporary issues. He tweets


@sabbahuddin

https://dailytimes.com.pk/writer/sabbahuddin/
https://twitter.com/sabbahuddin

Вам также может понравиться