Abstract
Objective: This research explored the relationships between primal world beliefs (i.e., general beliefs about the fundamental nature of the world) and intentions to engage in violent extremism. Method: We tested for these relationships in seven studies conducted with activists for a variety of ideologies, some of whom had already endorsed or committed violence for their cause (total N = 2,245). Results: After exploring all primal world beliefs across four U.S. ideological groups, only Meaningful world belief—the belief that most things, including people, tend to matter and have meaning—was consistently and negatively associated with violent extremism intentions. After establishing this relationship across ideological samples, a quasi-experiment showed that imprisoned Kazakhstani jihadist terrorists had significantly lower Meaningful world belief scores than nonterrorist violent offenders (e.g., murderers, rapists) in the same prisons. Next, an experiment found that a 10-day photography-based intervention to increase Meaningful world belief significantly reduced violent extremism intentions in a sample of Republicans who endorsed the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Finally, an additional experiment found that this same intervention reduced violent extremism intentions among a general U.S. sample, especially for people with above-minimum baseline levels of violent extremism intentions, although it failed to increase Meaningful world belief, limiting causality. Conclusions: Overall, the results align with motivational theories of violent extremism, which suggest that having limited sources of meaning can contribute to extremism, and suggest the potential utility of positive psychology interventions in policy and programming to prevent violent extremism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)