What Is Radicalisation and What Are The Signs of Radicalisation? Forensic Psychology Podcast Episode.

Next week at the time of writing, I have a job interview and one of the questions relates to what are the signs of radicalisation in children. The interview is for a learning support assistant role at a local school and the UK Government makes it a legal requirement for workers in education to Prevent radicalisation in children, so this is a part of that duty of care. In addition, whilst we’ve previously learnt about terrorism and other related criminal psychology topics on the podcast, we haven’t learnt about radicalisation too much before now. Therefore, in this forensic psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what is radicalisation, what are the signs of radicalisation in children and why is radicalisation in children important to learn about. If you enjoy learning about terrorism, radicalisation and criminal psychology then this will be a great episode for you.

Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Forensic Psychology Of Terrorism and Hostage-Taking. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca.

What Is Radicalisation?

Previously I think it is fair to say, in our ignorance as a society, we only needed to be concerned about children being radicalised by Islamic extremists, because this was the narrative that was pushed onto us. Yet now we understand that radicalisation can happen towards any ideology including Incels, far-right, misogyny, white supremacy and on and on and on. There are lot of different destructive, far-right ideologies that young people can be radicalised by and as educators and aspiring and qualified psychologists, we need to be aware of radicalisation and the signs.

Once we recognise the signs of radicalisation then we need to support our young people so they do not adopt these toxic, destructive ideologies and ultimately do not take up action as these innocent minority groups based on the lies of others. For example, when Incels demand and shoot up women because of incels’ toxic and ill-informed beliefs.

As a result, radicalisation is the process where anyone, including adults, starts to support and/ or get involved in extremist ideologies. These ideologies are normally political or religious but they can be made up of other beliefs too. For instance, I don’t think incel or white supremacy beliefs are based on religion and they are political to a point, but not really. I think incel beliefs in particular are based on social beliefs.

Anyway, radicalisation can be devastating to children, their families as well as their communities. People might be tempted to believe that radicalisation is only about beliefs, so cognitive processes, but we know that our cognitive processes can lead to action and behaviours in the right situation. Therefore, radicalisation can lead to physical and violent behaviours, like shooting up a group of black people, and this is why it is critical to help protect children and young people against radicalisation.

In addition, children tend to be the focus of anti-radicalisation work because young people are more likely to be radicalised compared to other age groups. Since their worldview is still developing and their worldview can influence their relationships, decisions and future prospects. For instance, if a young person gets involved in white supremacy during their teenage years, they become racist and physically violent towards black people and they beat a black person within an inch of their life. Then they will hopefully be arrested, charged and sent to prison for assault. Equally, I hope they will be deradicalized too. Yet because of their violent behaviour, they’ve lost years of their life, they have a criminal record and this will impact their employability and the rest of their life.

This is all because of radicalisation.

What Is The Process of Radicalisation?

Despite the path towards radicalisation being slightly different for everyone, there are a lot of patterns that set a child or young person down the similar, gradual path towards becoming radicalised. Firstly, a child is exposed to extremist ideas through online forums, friends, community groups, family members or social media. As well as sometimes, extremists actively target vulnerable young people to recruit them to the cause and this isn’t exclusive to Islamic extremist groups like the mainstream narrative would have us believe.

Also, as I talk about in my book, Applied Psychology, there are a lot of different factors that can lead someone towards radicalisation. These include, low self-esteem, feelings of injustice, social isolation as well as need to belong.

Generally, the four key stages of radicalisation are Exposure so a child is exposed to the extremist beliefs or materials for the first time. Engagement is when the young person starts to show an interest in these beliefs and starts to explore these ideas further. Thirdly, you have adoption where the young person adopts these extremist beliefs as their own. Finally, you have action where the young person takes steps towards supporting and/ or openly participating in extremist activity. This includes donating money or sharing videos and other content online or joining the extremist organisation.

To use an example of the white supremacy, a young person might see a meme online that they find funny. Then the young person might explore these white supremacy memes, online videos and racist comments in more depth and want to understand white supremacy. Afterwards, the young person starts to agree with white supremacy and starts to take on the racist beliefs as their own. Finally, the young person might start sharing racist videos online, talking to their friends about racist views and why non-whites are plaguing society and they might vote for racist candidates or donate money towards racist organisations. As well as they might campaign against non-whites living in their area.

What Are The Signs of Radicalisation?

This is the section I’m really interested in because of my job interview next week and I strongly believe at first when we think about the signs of radicalisation, there are the “clear” ones. You might associate being alone, vulnerable and physically aggressive as signs of radicalisation and that’s true. Yet there are so many more signs of radicalisation too.

Moreover, it’s useful to note that whilst some of the signs of radicalisation might be crystal clear, like glorifying extremist figures, showing beliefs in conspiracy theories and using extremist language. A lot of the other signs of radicalisation are a lot more subtle and they develop over time as well as some of these signs are perfectly normal when they occur alone.

Nonetheless, it is when these signs occur together and there are changes in behaviour, that is when there is cause for concern that the child might be at risk of radicalisation.

A first sign of radicalisation is that a child or young person loses interest in their schoolwork and normal hobbies. That on its own doesn’t sound too bad because most children don’t want to be at school, focus on their schoolwork and one of the symptoms of depression is that you lose pleasure and interest in things you used to enjoy. Yet when we consider other signs this is a lot more alarming.

Another sign of radicalisation is that child or young person becomes withdrawn and/ or they spend more time than normal alone. Again, it doesn’t sound too alarming and there are some children who are naturally more lonely than others. When I was a kid, I could have been called lonely because I didn’t have many friends, I didn’t hang out with anyone after school amongst other reasons, except my friends in the Sea Scouts.

Yet what makes losing interest in schoolwork and normal hobbies and withdrawn signs of radicalisation is that they make young people long for connection and friends. Sadly, extremist ideologies can seem very tempting and the manipulators and recruiters behind these ideologies are very skilled at convincing young people that this is where they belong.

A third sign of radicalisation is when young people use language that mirrors extremist rhetoric or their language sounds scripted. This isn’t one that I’ve heard before but I completely agree thinking back to online clips I’ve seen then blocked. It’s why I don’t go on Twitter much these days. It’s just a far-right breeding ground as far as I’m concerned. Believers in extremist ideologies always sound the same because they use the scripted language that they’ve learnt online from other people to support their extremist views and defend their beliefs against other people trying to challenge them.

A fourth sign is that a young person or child might show increase frustration, obsessive behaviour and anger. Again, these extremist ideologies are very effective at inciting, tapping into hate and cultivating anger within people. You only need to look at the UK politics this week to see how the major political parties are using immigration and refugees as the scapegoat for Westminster’s issues. Instead immigrants aren’t the issue because personally what annoys me as a rape survivor is that there are thousands of rapes every year in the UK. Yet the few times an immigrant commits sexual violence everyone goes mad, but my rapist was a white man and no one cared.

Anyway, this isn’t a political show and I’ve likely already annoyed enough people so let’s continue.

Additionally, other signs of radicalisation include sharing hateful views, memes, content and symbols on social media, spending more time online and becoming increasingly disrespectful and intolerant of other people and their different viewpoints. Personally, even though I am steadfast in my views, I still like to hear, listen and try to understand other people and were they’re coming from. I will likely never agree with these viewpoints but I am interested in listening and just because people hold different beliefs to me, it doesn’t automatically make them bad people. Radicalised people do not believe in that and they will not tolerate people with differing views.

Penultimately, another sign of radicalisation is that a young person will show more of a focus on one subject, like a given political conflict or immigration. If we look at the far-right, they are always focusing on immigration because they do not care about the evidence that shows higher immigration levels do NOT lead to increases in sexual violence, and immigrants do not drain the benefit system and so on.

A final sign of radicalisation is that a young person changes their friendship groups suddenly. On its own, this might not seem like a major concern because it’s normal for children and young people to change social groups and identities like clothing, but when you combine this sign with the other signs of radicalisation. Then this can get a lot more concerning. Especially, if there is already a social group at school that is known for their racist viewpoints and new young people are joining that friendship group.

Forensic Psychology Conclusion

Ultimately, talking about radicalisation and extremism is never a fun topic and it is always heart-wrenching to know that there are people out there and extremist ideologies that want to harm our young people. There are monsters out there that want to take advantage of the loneliness, mental health difficulties and need to belong that drives all of us, including our children. This is why it’s important that we talk about radicalisation and most importantly how to recognise the signs of radicalisation, so we can support our young people and hopefully deradicalise them.

In addition, to prevent radicalisation, some general tips and techniques include teaching children how to critically think about the information they hear and see online, helping children and young people understand how to verify online content through media literacy skills, and creating a safe space for a healthy discussion and debate round controversial topics.

Going back to my last point, I know it is tempting for teachers, schools and parents to simply avoid talking about controversial topics. Yet in my experience, children and young people will have these conversations regardless so it is better to have them in a school where they can be controlled, tailored and fact-checked than online when extremist ideologies can come in and taint and twist the entire conversation towards their extremist agenda.

In addition, you can prevent radicalisation by providing a confidential support system where students can express concerns in private, you can help children to build resilience so young people can challenge extremist narratives and help parents become more aware of online risks as well as the signs of radicalisation too.

You also need to report a child being at risk of radicalisation to the safeguarding officer at your organisation and education setting too.

Finally, even though radicalisation from Islamic extremists hasn’t been on the news so much in recent years. This really doesn’t mean radicalisation is over and our children and our young people aren’t at risk anymore. Instead children and young people are now at risk of white supremacy, the far right, the anti-immigration, misogynists, incels and manosphere and so many other extremist threats that radicalisation is still very present, very real and it can be very devastating to our children.

This is why we need to learn the signs, support children at risk of radicalisation and always focus on preventing radicalisation as much as possible.

I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode.

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Criminal Psychology Reference and Further Reading

Cherney, A., Belton, E., Norham, S. A. B., & Milts, J. (2022). Understanding youth radicalisation: an analysis of Australian data. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 14(2), 97-119.

Daher, L. M., Gamuzza, A., Mavica, G., Nicolosi, D., & Bontà, C. (2025). Youth Agency and Radicalisation: Unpacking the Voices, Hopes and Complexities of Embodied Subjectivity. Social Roots of Violent Extremism: Pathways and Trends in Europe, 57.

Espenschied, M. J. (2024). The radicalisation of youth: the contagion of ideologically motivated violent extremism throughout COVID-19 (Doctoral dissertation, Macquarie University).

Heinze, A. S. (2025). Drivers of radicalisation? The development and role of the far-right youth organisation ‘Young Alternative’in Germany. International Political Science Review, 46(1), 108-124.

https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/what-does-radicalisation-mean

Parker, D., Lindekilde, L., & Gøtzsche‐Astrup, O. (2021). Recognising and responding to radicalisation at the ‘frontline’: Assessing the capability of school teachers to recognise and respond to radicalisation. British Educational Research Journal, 47(3), 634-653.

Sjøen, M. M., & Mattsson, C. (2020). Preventing radicalisation in Norwegian schools: How teachers respond to counter-radicalisation efforts. Critical studies on terrorism, 13(2), 218-236.

Taylor, L., & Soni, A. (2017). Preventing radicalisation: a systematic review of literature considering the lived experiences of the UK’s Prevent strategy in educational settings. Pastoral Care in Education, 35(4), 241-252.

Whiteley, C. (2024) Forensic Psychology of Terrorism And Hostage-Taking. CGD Publishing. England.

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