The roots of terrorism: from the psychology of multicausality to the psychology of ignorance

Terrorist actions have occurred in all historical periods. The purpose of this article is to analyse and reflect on the causes of terrorism, suicide or otherwise. We concentrate in particular on the publications of Spanish authors. The results are not very promising. The conclusion is that what is published in Spain from the perspective of the psychology of the etiology of terrorism is almost irrelevant. Therefore, currently Spanish psychology can contribute very little to the knowledge about the risk factors of terrorist actions. Psychological investigation seems focused on the quantification of reality rather than its interpretation, understanding and transformation. Thus psychological knowledge runs the risk of becoming socially trivial and insubstantial.