28th Sydney Symposium of Social Psychology
13-17 July, 2026, Visegrad, Hungary
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EXTREMISM
Convened by
Joseph P. Forgas
The conference seeks to bring together researchers who are
interested in understanding the psychology of extremism – an issue
of great topical importance at the current time when our liberal
Western societies are going through a period of increasing conflict,
uncertainty and animosity marked by escalating extremism on both
ends of the political spectrum. Extremism is a serious issue and is
more likely when social solidarity is undermined and when confidence
in the reliability and predictability of the social order and our
cultural and political institutions is compromised. Extremism has
been a recurring feature of human societies throughout history, and
its recent rise offers an outstanding opportunity to examine the
evolutionary, social cognitive and cultural processes involved.
We hope to invite researchers working in any area of psychology
relevant to understanding extremism, including areas of
evolutionary, personality, cognitive, cultural, political and
economic researchers who are interested in exploring the nature
origins, functions, and psychological and cultural antecedents and
consequences of extremism.
We believe that many substantive areas of psychology and related
fields have an important contribution to make to understanding how
and why humans become captive to extremist views and ideologies. As
always with our Symposia the topic is broadly defined and we are
interested in inviting contributions from a wide variety of
empirical and theoretical backgrounds. Our meetings are well-known
for the lively, engaging and entertaining small group discussions
across disciplinary boundaries, with great presentations and an
exciting social and cultural program in afantastic location.