ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026
The psychology of offensive and defensive intergroup violence: Preregistered insights from 58 countries.
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In one paragraph
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reply to Romano and De Dreu: Why violent extremism cannot be reduced to laboratory games.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Intentions poorly explain how and why people engage in offensive and defensive forms of violence.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Extremism does not stop at borders, and neither should our models.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Reply to Zadegan et al.: Spatial dependence is real, but not every correction travels well.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
113 authors.
Jonas R KunstDepartment of Communication and Culture, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo 0484, Norway.ORCID 0000-0002-5319-1256
Tomasz BestaInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk 80-309, Poland.
Michał JaśkiewiczInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk 80-309, Poland.ORCID 0000-0003-4358-1071
Anna Natalia GajdaInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk 80-309, Poland.ORCID 0000-0002-3877-6870
Markus SandenDepartment of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway.ORCID 0009-0007-8713-7315
Mina Marie FlatebøDepartment of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway.
Sulaiman Olanrewaju AdebayoDepartment of Psychology, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti 360101, Nigeria.ORCID 0000-0002-6514-5257
Marios AdonisDepartment of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia 2417, Cyprus.ORCID 0000-0002-8246-3978
Collins Badu AgyemangDepartment of Psychology, University of Ghana, Accra LG 25, Ghana.
Raymond Agyenim BoatengDivision of Social Sciences, Humanities and Design, College of Professional and Continuing Education, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, CPCE, Hong Kong, China.ORCID 0000-0003-0091-9706
Serap Arslan AkfiratDepartment of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir 35390, Turkey.ORCID 0000-0003-4989-2399
Samir Al-AdawiDepartment of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat 123, Oman.
Chiara AmbrosioDepartment of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta 81100, Italy.ORCID 0009-0005-5334-6480
Gulnaz AnjumDepartment of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway.ORCID 0000-0002-2589-7884
John Jamir Benzon R ArutaDepartment of Psychology, De La Salle University, Manila 1004, Philippines.
Ivars AustersDepartment of Psychology, University of Latvia, Riga LV-1586, Latvia.
Oumar BarryDepartment of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Dakar 5005, Senegal.
Brock BastianMelbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-4619-3322
Maja BeckerCognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse 31058, France.ORCID 0000-0003-1187-1699
Michael BenderDepartment of Social Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg 5037 AB, Netherlands.
Nora Cornelia Glerud BenningstadDepartment of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway.ORCID 0000-0002-7955-107X
Islam BorincaDepartment of Social Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen 9712 CP, Nederlands.ORCID 0000-0003-2994-0998
Göksu CelikkolInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk 80-309, Poland.
Jiří ČeněkDepartment of Social Studies, Mendel University in Brno, Brno 613 00, Czech Republic.ORCID 0000-0002-2543-5532
Trawin ChaleeraktrakoonDepartment of Psychology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12121, Thailand.
Phatthanakit ChobthamkitDepartment of Psychology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12121, Thailand.
Hoon-Seok ChoiDepartment of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul 03063, South Korea.ORCID 0000-0001-8360-1888
Suyeong ChoiDepartment of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
Patricia CiordasDepartment of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1053, Hungary.
Ann-Cathrin CoenenDepartment of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0315, Norway.ORCID 0000-0003-1210-5021
Aleksandra CuptaInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk 80-309, Poland.ORCID 0000-0003-3537-8719
Piyanjali de ZoysaDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Colombo, Colombo 00800, Sri Lanka.ORCID 0000-0002-7382-6503
Sandesh DhakalCentral Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu 44618, Nepal.
Lauren E DuncanDepartment of Psychology, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063.ORCID 0000-0003-0075-1456
Tuğçenaz ElcilDepartment of Psychology, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir 35390, Turkey.ORCID 0000-0002-8948-4157
Barkan EskiiliDepartment of Psychology, Istanbul Gedik University, Istanbul 34876, Turkey.
Edgardo EtchezaharDepartment of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.ORCID 0000-0002-3289-194X
Renata FrancDepartment of Psychology, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, Zagreb 10000, Croatia.
Silvia GaldiDepartment of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta 81100, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-1343-9245
Magdalena GarvanovaDepartment of Information Systems and Technologies, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia 1784, Bulgaria.ORCID 0000-0003-2387-1442
Paul GillDepartment of Security and Crime Science, University College London, London WC1H 9EZ, United Kingdom.
Augusto GnisciDepartment of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta 81100, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-0429-3405
Angel GómezDepartment of Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid 28040, Spain.
Talía Gómez YepesDepartment of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.ORCID 0000-0001-6555-1186
Igor GrossmannDepartment of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-2681-3600
Emily A HainesCollege of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide SA 5042, Australia.ORCID 0009-0004-8368-7000
Fatjona HakaFaculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana, Tirana 1001, Albania.
Boaz HameiriProgram in Conflict Management and Mediation, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel.ORCID 0000-0002-0241-9839
Imaduddin HamzahDepartment of Community Guidance, Politeknik Pengayoman Indonesia, Depok 16514, Indonesia.
Mai HelmyDepartment of Psychology, College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat 123, Oman.
Roland ImhoffDepartment of Social and Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz 55122, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-0807-463X
Shanmukh KambleDepartment of Psychology, Karnatak University Dharwad, Dharwad 580003, India.
Fiona KazarovytskaDepartment of Social and Legal Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz 55122, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-3537-5710
Anna KendeDepartment of Social Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1053, Hungary.ORCID 0000-0001-5148-0145
Narine KhachatryanFaculty of Philosophy and Psychology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan 0025, Armenia.
Sasha Y KimelDepartment of Psychology, California State University San Marcos, San Marcos, CA 92096.ORCID 0000-0002-6476-657X
Jack W KleinMelbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-1207-247X
Adam KomisarofFaculty of Letters, Keio University, Yokohama 223-8521, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-6596-3463
David LackoInstitute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno 602 00, Czech Republic.
Timo Juhani LajunenDepartment of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia 2417, Cyprus.
Barbara LášticováInstitute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 841 04, Slovakia.
Claudio López-CalleFaculty of Psychology, Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca 010107, Ecuador.ORCID 0000-0003-0679-6954
Wilson López-LópezFaculty of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá 110231, Colombia.ORCID 0000-0002-2964-0402
Barbara Kalebić MaglicaFaculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Rijeka, Rijeka 51000, Croatia.
Romualdas MalinauskasDepartment of Health, Physical and Social Education, Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas 44221, Lithuania.ORCID 0000-0001-5578-3100
Sona ManusyanFaculty of Philosophy and Psychology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan 0025, Armenia.
Khatuna MartskvishviliDepartment of Psychology, Ivane Javakhisvhili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi 0179, Georgia.
Gustave Adolphe MessangaDepartment of Philosophy-Psychology-Sociology, University of Dschang, Dschang B.P. 94, Cameroon.ORCID 0000-0002-7893-9056
Marta MiklikowskaInstitute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education, Gothenburg 413 90, Sweden.
Jelena MinicDepartment of Psychology, University of Priština, Kosovska Mitrovica 38220, Serbia.ORCID 0000-0001-5672-4030
Tamara MohorićFaculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Rijeka, Rijeka 51000, Croatia.
Francesca MottolaDepartment of Psychology, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta 81100, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-2765-5248
Silvana MulaUniversità degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari 09124, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-8391-630X
Pasquale MussoDepartment of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari 70122, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-4725-6551
Dieynaba Gabrielle NdiayeDepartment of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Dakar 5005, Senegal.
Félix NetoFaculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto 4099-002, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0003-0112-880X
Joana NetoResearch on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, Universidade Portucalense, Porto 4200-072, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0003-0837-7630
Laina Ngom DiengDepartment of Psychology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Dakar 5005, Senegal.
Ihuoma Faith ObiomaInstitute of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main 60323, Germany.
Tosin Tunrayo OlonisakinDepartment of Psychology, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti 360101, Nigeria.
Simon OzerDepartment of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0002-4881-4201
Penny PanagiotopoulouDepartment of Educational Sciences and Social Work, University of Patras, Patras 265 04, Greece.ORCID 0000-0001-6130-7258
Beata Pastwa-WojciechowskaInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk 80-309, Poland.ORCID 0000-0002-0561-6125
Vassilis PavlopoulosDepartment of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens 157 72, Greece.
Tomislav PavlovićDepartment of Psychology, Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences, Zagreb 10000, Croatia.ORCID 0000-0002-4470-3715
Inha PetrovskaDepartment of Psychology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv 79000, Ukraine.ORCID 0000-0001-7544-945X
Andrzej PiotrowskiInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk 80-309, Poland.ORCID 0000-0003-1192-2695
Xenia Daniela PoslonInstitute for Research in Social Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava 841 04, Slovakia.
Lotte PummererDepartment of Psychology, University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-4859-6849
Mahima RainaDepartment of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India.
Jano Ramos-DiazFacultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Privada del Norte, Lima 15082, Peru.ORCID 0000-0002-7993-2390
Vilja RobertssonDepartment of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 405 30, Sweden.
Bettina RottweilerNational Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE 68182.
David L SamDepartment of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen 5020, Norway.
Rosa ScardignoDepartment of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari 70122, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-5725-6483
Marion K SchulmeyerDepartment of Psychology, Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
Anna StefaniakSchool of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-1706-7784
Anna StudzinskaCognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse 31058, France.
Mark J M SullmanDepartment of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia 2417, Cyprus.
Marcin SzulcInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk 80-309, Poland.ORCID 0000-0002-0997-0906
Willy Taffo NembouéDepartment of Philosophy-Psychology-Sociology, University of Dschang, Dschang B.P. 94, Cameroon.ORCID 0009-0009-7167-9667
Ergyul TairDepartment of Psychology, Institute for Population and Human Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia 1113, Bulgaria.ORCID 0000-0003-2546-463X
Nicole TauschSchool of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JP, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-9471-0673
Narendra Singh ThagunnaCentral Department of Psychology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu 44618, Nepal.
Emma F ThomasCollege of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide SA 5042, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-8664-9748
Joaquín UngarettiDepartment of Evolutionary Psychology and Education, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid 28049, Spain.
Colette Van LaarCenter for Social and Cultural Psychology, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Leuven 3000, Belgium.
Žermēna VazneDepartment of Health Psychology and Paedagogy, Riga Stradins University, Riga LV-1007, Latvia.ORCID 0000-0002-4361-5473
Alexandra VázquezDepartment of Social and Organizational Psychology, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid 28040, Spain.ORCID 0000-0002-6040-9102
Jose Villanueva-AlvaradoDepartment of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima 15088, Peru.
Anna WlodarczykSchool of Psychology, Universidad Católica del Norte, Antofagasta 1270709, Chile.
Kumar YogeeswaranDepartment of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.ORCID 0000-0002-1978-5077
Milan ObaidiDepartment of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 1353, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0001-6416-1805
Funding
EC | European Research Council (ERC) 101018172European Next Generation EU: NRRP Initiative, Mission 4 PE0000014Japanese Government Kakenhi 32612National Science Centre in Poland 2021/43/B/HS6/00020Slovak Research and Development Agency under the Contract APVV-23-0119Slowak Scientific Agency 2/0102/22
Abstract
Evolutionary theory and historical evidence suggest humans possess distinct psychological tendencies for defensive and offensive violence, which have insufficiently been considered in research. In a large-scale preregistered study across 58 countries (
Indexed as
ViolenceHumansdefensiveevolutionoffensivepsychologyviolent extremism
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