I commend Dr. Diamond for starting a discussion on the psychology of recruitment of terrorism. I think he presented well the viewpoint from the psychology of unconscious dynamics. My colleagues and I are creating a psychology of conscious purpose, which offers a different perspective on the issue of recruitment of terrorists.
Honor is an intrinsic motive that drives loyalty to ethnic groups. It is different from the motive of vengeance. I wonder how Dr. Diamond could tell whether the source of anger for the Nigerian individual was honor (e.g., a perception that western culture spits on the graves of Islamic ancestors) or vengeance (a desire to attack anybody who gets in your way). The former would be indicated by a history of loyalty to the ethnic religion; the latter by a history of interpersonal aggressiveness or competitiveness.
Psychodynamics cannot predict much of anything because it is focused on the common emotional consequence (e.g., anger) of unrelated antecedents (vengeance, honor). Vengeance and honor are uncorrelated motives of human nature, but linked in psychoanalytic analyses of unconscious rage. To understand who is going to be recruited, one needs to be focused on antecedents and prediction.
I suspect that the motive of honor is a key predictor of who is suspectible to recruitment. A vengeful person turns his competitiveness or anger toward anyone with whom he/she comes into contact including possibly the terrorist organization. An honorable person would stay loyal to the terrorist organization with anger focused on the perceived enemy of the ancestors.
Psychoanalysis is invalid partially because Freud got motivation wrong. Motivation is not psychic energy, but purpose. From an energy standpoint, honor and vengeance both energize and, thus, have similar consequences. Yet they are very different purposes for engaging in behavior. Energy predicts nothing and leads to simplistic ideas that "drive reduction" is the universal motive. Purpose predicts how human beings behave in the real world.
We need a psychology of conscious purpose to understand terrorists. Honor and vengeance are conscious motives people proudly report on confidential questionnaires. Honor is a component of Big 5 Conscientious, but the "conscientious" is too general because it also includes humanitarianism. The psychology of conscious purpose supports the validity of the Big 5 but views it as overly general. Honor is a more specific motive than conscientiousness.
