In this eighth episode of Combating Jihadist Terror Dr Anthony Richards interviews Professor Max Taylor, a leading forensic and legal psychologist and co-editor of Terrorism and Political Violence, one of the principal journals on terrorism and political violence. They discuss the usefulness of profiling in determining terrorists and how researching psychological patterns might help to produce some fresh understanding. Professor Taylor also gives his opinion on how affordances can lead to terrorist activity, in particular focusing on the events of January 6th 2021 in Washington D.C. on which he has written an article entitled: ‘Some Primary Thoughts prompted by President Trump's 6 January Speech: Words, Enemies, Affordances’ soon to be published in Terrorism and Political Violence.

Professor Taylor’s most recent book Evolutionary Psychology and Terrorism, co-edited with Ken Pease and Jason Roach is available here.

Listen to the podcast above or see an illustrated video of the interview here.

To buy CoJiT’s own publication – Jihadist Terror: New Threats, New Responses – which synthesises our current understanding of the current terrorist threat and counter terrorist response, please click here.