Predicting Harmful Attitudes and Beliefs Among Incels (Involuntary Celibates): How Potent is the Black-Pill?

Incels are a subculture community of men who form their identity around a perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relationships. The community operates almost exclusively online, providing an outlet for misogynistic hostility. There are growing concerns about violence from incels, who have been highlighted as an (inter)national security threat. In response to these concerns, this study stands as the most extensive primary investigation of incel harmful attitudes and beliefs to date (n = 561). Consistent with previous research, we find ethnic and political diversity, poor mental-health, high levels of suicidality and neurodiversity in this group of men. Incels showed ideological consistency, and a substantial proportion felt that violence was ‘Sometimes’ (20%) or ‘Often’ (5%) justified against those who sought to harm them. Pathway analysis predicting harmful attitudes and beliefs (e.g., displaced aggression, hostile sexism, and justification of violence) indicates that mental-health and ideological adherence have twice the predictive power compared to networking, and a bidirectional effect. Indirect pathways to these harmful attitudes and beliefs are identified, involving the dark triad, right-wing political orientation, autism, mate-value, and a history of bullying and abuse. These results suggest that interventions focusing on mental health and ideology may be more effective than those targeting networking. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. As issues of extremism, online radicalization, and mental health grow in importance, these insights become vital for policymakers, educators, journalists, and anyone concerned with the problems incels face and represent in society.