Empathy or Morality: Investigating Strategic Communications Interventions for Combatting Extremism

Joshua Cloudy, “Empathy or Morality: Investigating Strategic Communications Interventions for Combatting Extremism” was accepted to the March 2025 American Academy of Advertising Conference in Pittsburgh.  

Abstract: Combating violent extremism is a primary concern for governmental and non-governmental organizations both domestically and internationally. In particular, there is growing concern about the role of online radicalization. As such, academia has been called upon to develop strategic communication interventions that can assist in disrupting the recruitment efforts of violent online extremist groups. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to develop a strategic communication intervention that would decrease the likelihood of high-risk individuals being drawn into violent online extremist groups. In this study, the results of an experiment did not support the ability of either an ingroup focused or outgroup focused counter-extremism message to reduce outgroup hostility and acceptance of the use of violence. The results of this study provide some tentative information for organizations seeking to combat violent extremism that begins online.