dark

Explore Recent Articles

A conceptual watercolor illustration showing a lone silhouetted human figure standing at the center of a dark, tangled mass of twisted tree branches that fan outward like consuming tendrils against a glowing red-orange background. The dark limbs enveloping the figure symbolize obsessive passion and deliberate engagement with radical ideology, evoking themes of radicalization, entrapment, and the reciprocal pull toward violent extremism.

The radicalization syndrome: Reciprocal dynamics of obsessive passion and deliberate engagement

By Jocelyn J. Bélanger, Daniel W. Snook, Muhammed Rayyan Ahmed, & Jais Adam-Troian

A woodcut-style print showing a dark, foreboding interior with tangled black tree-like branches filling the left side, an open door on the right revealing a pale bleak landscape, and a stark red path winding through the center foreground. The high-contrast black, cream, and red palette evokes trauma, threat, and disturbed childhood environments symbolizing adverse experiences leading toward violence.

Adverse childhood experiences and violent extremism: A scoping review of the literature

By Teja Pammi, Caterina Ceccarelli, Sam Hibbs, Jemima Chase, Nafees Hamid, & Fiona S. McEwen

A conceptual painted illustration showing a solitary dark chess king piece standing on a cracked stone surface, casting a long shadow across a diagonal beam of light. Fractured lines radiate outward while a red glow pools at the base, symbolizing leadership, power orientation, and the destabilizing lethal influence of violent extremist organization leaders across their tenure.

Deadly persuasion: A multilevel analysis of leader influence tactics and lethality in violent extremist organizations

By Mackenzie Harms, Alex Bruens, Justin Jones, & Gina Ligon

Trending Keywords

Muhammed Rayyan Ahmed

Carnegie Mellon University Qatar

Muhammed Rayyan Ahmed is a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University Qatar whose work addresses deliberate engagement, obsessive passion, and the psychology of political violence and radicalization. Ahmed examines within-person dynamics as a framework for understanding how motivational and attitudinal processes unfold over time in these contexts.

Has published with:

Expert in:

Publications in advances.in/psychology

Research Article

The radicalization syndrome: Reciprocal dynamics of obsessive passion and deliberate engagement

By Jocelyn J. Bélanger, Daniel W. Snook, Muhammed Rayyan Ahmed, & Jais Adam-Troian

August 19, 2026

Page last updated: August 19, 2026