Developmental Aspects of Lone-Actor Terrorists

Identifying lone-actor terrorists is often fraught with extreme public and political pressure. Inherent to such an analysis is a tendency toward certain cognitive biases based on historical offenders and known patterns, akin to “profiling.” Although life events or trauma are significant in many cases, empathically attributing later actions to life events fails to recognize that most people do not became lone-actor terrorists after tragic events. This chapter discusses the strengths and weaknesses of such an approach and also of the multiple variables that could contribute to development of lone-actor terrorists. In addition to the biopsychosocial model, various additional factors are discussed that include both real-life and virtual world relationships and influences.