Decision Making and Simulation

Willingness to use terror is rare. Approximately 10% of the total sample (31 of 309 participants) indicated that they planned to use terrorism in the context of the experiment. Willingness to use terror is not directly influenced by individuals' level of grievance (in the form of past and ongoing discrimination and oppression). Willingness to use terror is related to individuals' level of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO; a general desire for group-based dominance and hierarchy rather than equality; coupled with endorsement of ideologies that legitimize inequality).

While those who are higher on SDO are less likely to take any form of action, those who are higher on SDO and support action are 14% more likely to choose terror (rather than protest). An individual's justification of the use of terrorism by others is 16% more likely with higher levels of grievance. Higher levels of grievance make mobilization 16% more likely. Higher levels of risk (as indicated by individual's perception of effective and harsh state repression for taking action) make mobilization 18% less likely. Women are 11% less likely to mobilize than men. Those who are higher on SDO were 38% less likely to take any form of action, 49% less likely to engage in protest, and 16% less likely to feel that protest is justified. Those who are higher on Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA; a robust measure of individual attitudes toward authority and a predictor of higher levels of prejudice against a wide range of racial and religious minorities) are 35% less likely to mobilize in general, 29% less likely to engage in protest, and 22% less likely to feel that protest is justified.