Out of the Abundance of the Heart the Mouth Speaks: Identity Fusion and the Diagnostic Power of Words
New research suggests patterns in speech can predict violent behavior.
Julie Ebner has written a number of fascinating books and academic articles analyzing the social lives of extremists, notably Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists. She has gone under-cover to events and online spaces to get to know extremists and also done some fascinating work analyzing the speech and rhetoric of extremist groups and actors.
Identity fusion is when a person’s identity becomes so wrapped up in a group (anything from family to political party or extremist group) that the individual perceives themselves as ‘fused’ or indistinguishable from the group. High levels of this kind of fusion indicate (and predict) that a person is willing to fight and die for the group. In a family, this might be expected… parents would defend their children and fight on their behalf… but a political party or football club?
A model named the “Fusion + threat model1” proposes that the strong in-group identity fusion combined with strong out-group threat perception can be indicators of violent extremism. Why is this important?
In recent research Ebner, along with two other researchers Kavanagh and Whitehouse propose that this kind of tendency towards violence might be somewhat predictable2. It turns out words (video, manifestos, social media, etc.) can indicate whether a person might commit a violent act. The specific predictors are things like:
High in-group identity fusion
Out-group slurs
Demonization, dehumanization,
out group conspiracies
violence condoning norms,
existential threat
inevitable war
hopelessness of alternative solutions
See this happening anywhere in culture? Politics comes to mind and the war in the Holy Land. This should give us great pause and concern regarding what is going on in the deeper thoughts and attitudes of leaders.
Now we might say ‘duh’ of course words are important and predict behavior. I am interested in this concept from a spiritual perspective. Consider this saying of Jesus from the book of Luke:
Good people have good things saved in their hearts. That’s why they say good things. But those who are evil have hearts full of evil, and that’s why they say things that are evil. What people say with their mouths comes from what fills their hearts. Luke 6:45 (ERV)
I like the ERV translation for its directness and simplicity… what people say comes from what ‘fills their hearts.’ Or the ESV renders this ‘out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’ The corollary story in Matthew (7:15-20) links this with false teachers, calling them ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ but indicates that the difference will be apparent in their ‘fruits.’
Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Matthew 7
The word for fruit can also be translated ‘produce of vegetation, crop or harvest’… it is a growth and product from planting and the tending of soil, or the heart in this case. The heart in the Near Eastern conceptualization was the biological and spiritual center, the seat of emotion, thought, will and being. So here, the heart is likened to a treasury where things are stored up, planted and then fruits or ‘good treasure’ emerges.
A few important observations on this concept… 1. the intent in the heart (or that which ‘fills’ the heart) we might say ‘leaks’ out of the mouth. It overflows… meaning there is much more (either good or bad) growing down there. 2. Words are a product or symptom of what is going on spiritually, psychologically, socially, even subconsciously. 3. Words, and more broadly, fruit (attitudes, actions, facial expressions, tone, posture) mirror what is in the heart.
Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life - Proverbs 4:23
Harvey Whitehouse, “Dying for the Group: Towards a General Theory of Extreme Self-Sacrifice,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 41 (2018): 1–62.
Ebner, J., C. Kavanagh and H. Whitehouse “Is There a Language of Terrorists? A Comparative Manifesto Analysis”, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, August 2022.