Applying Moral Foundations Theory to Identify Terrorist Group Motivations

Previous research distinguishing terrorist groups has employed categorical schemes that are (1) ideologically broad and ambiguous (e.g., right-wing versus left-wing) or (2) focused on single-issues (e.g., guns, abortion). Broad schemes often fail to clearly distinguish groups’ motivations, and single-issue schemes provide no coherent theoretical structure for understanding terrorist behavior. To address these limitations, we applied the conceptual framework of moral foundations theory (MFT) to derive a content-analytic scheme identifying universal instincts we term “moral motivations.” We then applied this scheme to classify descriptions found in the Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism in the United States, an open-sourced dataset providing information on terrorist organizations that committed violence on U.S. soil. Analyses examined how terrorist-group activities are associated with specific moral motivations in order to distinguish dominant motives among different groups. Results showed that extremist right-wing, religious, and ethno-nationalist/separatist ideologies were associated with the binding motivations of loyalty, authority, and purity. Extremist left-wing and single-issue ideologies were associated with the individualizing motivations of care and fairness. These findings are discussed regarding the value of using MFT’s motivations to distinguish terrorist groups and how describing their moral motivations might advance efforts to curtail their activities.