Citation

Rip B, Vallerand RJ, Lafrenière MA. J. Pers. 2011; 80(3): 573-602.

Affiliation

Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Comportement Social, Université du Québec à Montréal.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00743.x

PMID

22091560

Abstract

Passion energizes and directs both peaceful and violent ideologically inspired movements. The type of ideological passion that underlies people's political or religious commitment was proposed to moderate the effect of social identity-threatening circumstances on their choice of activist tactics. Ideological passion was defined as a strong inclination toward a loved, valued, and self-defining cause, ideology, or group in which people invest considerable time and energy. Harmonious ideological passion was expected to promote peaceful activism and non-violence partly because it is anchored in a strong and secure sense of identity-one that facilitates non-defensiveness in identity-threatening circumstances. Obsessive ideological passion, in contrast, was expected to engender hatred, extremism, and aggression in identity-threatening circumstances partly because it is anchored in a strong, but insecure sense of identity. Results from two studies, conducted with nationalist activists (N=114) and devout Muslims (N=111), supported these hypotheses. Implications for the motivation/passion and intergroup processes literatures are discussed.

Language: en