Terrorists, affordance and the over-estimation of offence homogeneity

Roach, Jason (2012) Terrorists, affordance and the over-estimation of offence homogeneity. In: Terrorism and Affordance. New Directions in Terrorism Studies . Continuum, London. ISBN 9781441133816

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Abstract

Indeed, a cat doesn’t simply assess a mouse, it assesses it as a prospective meal. But the
cat doesn’t assess all animals as prospective meals, only mice (Martinez, 2005:53).
This short quotation taken from the Guillermo Martinez novel, The Oxford Murders, wonderfully
illustrates ‘affordance’, the central concept of this book. The cat’s perception of the mouse as a
meal, ‘affords’ the cat a behavioural option of killing and eating it, presumably because the
mouse is not likely to fight back where other animals might. One can assume that the
‘affordance’ for the cat would undoubtedly be different if the mouse was two meters tall and
wielding a baseball bat. If the popular myth propagated by children’s stories is to be believed,
then may be this explains why elephants are scared of mice. It is they who perceive mice in such
an intimidating way!

Item Type:	Book Chapter
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
Schools:	School of Human and Health Sciences School of Human and Health Sciences > Applied Criminology Centre
Related URLs:	Author
Depositing User:	Jason Roach
Date Deposited:	07 Feb 2013 16:46
Last Modified:	13 Dec 2016 18:49
URI:	http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/16659

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• Terrorists, affordance and the over-estimation of offence homogeneity. (deposited 13 Jul 2012 11:23)
  • Terrorists, affordance and the over-estimation of offence homogeneity. (deposited 07 Feb 2013 16:46) [Currently Displayed]

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