When terrorists indiscriminately kill scores of people, as in the recent attacks in Brussels and Lahore, Pakistan, we tend to assume they are monsters. Anyone who could do this, we tell ourselves, is someone we can't possibly understand, let alone relate to.
But is that really true? Haven't you ever felt that you don't fit in anywhere? That you're being victimized? That you can't find your purpose in life?
Recently published research suggests those are precisely the feelings that make American Muslims susceptible to the lure of extremism.
A study of 198 Muslims in the United States "found that immigrants who identify with neither their heritage culture, nor the culture they are living in, feel marginalized and insignificant," reports a research team led by Stanford University research psychologist Sarah Lyons-Padilla. "Experiences of discrimination make the situation worse, and lead to greater support for radicalism, which promises a sense of meaning and life purpose."
[For more of this story, written by Tom Jacobs, go to http://www.psmag.com/politics-...oung-american-muslim]
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