TY - JOUR

T1 - Some people just want to watch the world burn

T2 - The prevalence, psychology and politics of the 'Need for Chaos'

AU - Arceneaux, Kevin

AU - Gravelle, Timothy B.

AU - Osmundsen, Mathias

AU - Petersen, Michael Bang

AU - Reifler, Jason

AU - Scotto, Thomas J.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s).

PY - 2021/4

Y1 - 2021/4

N2 - People form political attitudes to serve psychological needs. Recent research shows that some individuals have a strong desire to incite chaos when they perceive themselves to be marginalized by society. These individuals tend to see chaos as a way to invert the power structure and gain social status in the process. Analysing data drawn from large-scale representative surveys conducted in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, we identify the prevalence of Need for Chaos across Anglo-Saxon societies. Using Latent Profile Analysis, we explore whether different subtypes underlie the uni-dimensional construct and find evidence that some people may be motivated to seek out chaos because they want to rebuild society, while others enjoy destruction for its own sake. We demonstrate that chaos-seekers are not a unified political group but a divergent set of malcontents. Multiple pathways can lead individuals to 'want to watch the world burn'. This article is part of the theme issue 'The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms'.

AB - People form political attitudes to serve psychological needs. Recent research shows that some individuals have a strong desire to incite chaos when they perceive themselves to be marginalized by society. These individuals tend to see chaos as a way to invert the power structure and gain social status in the process. Analysing data drawn from large-scale representative surveys conducted in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, we identify the prevalence of Need for Chaos across Anglo-Saxon societies. Using Latent Profile Analysis, we explore whether different subtypes underlie the uni-dimensional construct and find evidence that some people may be motivated to seek out chaos because they want to rebuild society, while others enjoy destruction for its own sake. We demonstrate that chaos-seekers are not a unified political group but a divergent set of malcontents. Multiple pathways can lead individuals to 'want to watch the world burn'. This article is part of the theme issue 'The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms'.

KW - marginalization

KW - Need for Chaos

KW - personality

KW - politics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101934438&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1098/rstb.2020.0147

DO - 10.1098/rstb.2020.0147

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33611991

AN - SCOPUS:85101934438

VL - 376

JO - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

SN - 0962-8436

IS - 1822

M1 - 20200147

ER -