The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon brought the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism to the world's attention.

Six years of conflict and debate later, we still understand very little about how and why people join fundamentalist movements and embrace a set of beliefs and behaviour which are destructively counter-cultural.

Peter Herriot's new book Religious Fundamentalism and Social Identity (published by Psychology Press, 2007) uses current Social Identity Theory to address two key questions:

1. What causes fundamentalists to identify themselves with persecuted 'in-groups' fighting what they take to be oppressive 'out-groups'?
2. How do the psychological needs for self-esteem and meaning motivate them?

Case studies of Mohammed Atta, the leader of the 9/11 hijackers, and of the current controversy in the Anglican Church about gay priests and bishops, demonstrate how fruitfully Social Identity Theory can be applied to fundamentalist conflicts.

Significantly, it also offers psychologically sensible ways of managing such conflicts, rather than treating fundamentalists as an enemy to be defeated.
Religious Fundamentalism and Social Identity can be ordered from Psychology Press at:
www.socialpsychologyarena.com/books/book.asp?isbn=0415416760

A podcast in which Peter Herriot talks about some of the ideas that went into the book can be downloaded free of charge at:
www.psypress.com/herriot/pod.asp

"Peter Herriot demonstrates how far one can come with linking theories about intergroup relations with religious fundamentalism. It is evident that these theories are highly relevant for and applicable to the phenomenon at hand. He has created a remarkable and original work."
- Bertjan Doosje, Associate Professor, University of Amsterdam

"Religious Fundamentalism and Social Identity makes a permanent contribution to efforts to understand a phenomenon that is unlikely to disappear and one we must all learn to live with."
- Ralph W Hood, Professor of Psychology, University of Tennessee at Chatanooga

About the Author:
Peter Herriot has spent most of his working life as an academic, as a visiting professor at the University of Surrey and at the Open University Business School, concluding his career with a short period of consultancy. His subject area was organizational psychology, where he specialised in personnel selection, career development, and the employment relationship. Subsequent to retirement, he has sought to apply social and organizational psychology to the understanding of religious fundamentalism.

Psychology Press publishes an impressive portfolio of psychology textbooks, monographs, professional books, tests, and numerous journals which are available in both printed and online formats.

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Psychology Press
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Psychology Press
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917 351 7160

This release was published on openPR.