article_snippet.sent: But beyond this, some experts such as psychology professor Arie W. Kruglanski suggest, the wave of savage beheadings may be having an unlikely knock-on effect.
article_snippet.sent: some experts such as psychology professor Arie W. Kruglanski says the spate of jihadist beheadings may be encouraging copy-cat acts or threats of decapitation -- not only from Islamists, but from the "disbelievers" the spate of jihadist beheadings target.
article_snippet.sent: Kruglanski, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, says the frequent, high profile reports of ISIS beheadings could result in psychologically "priming" people to be more inclined to emulate " people, or threaten to, during moments of conflict or extreme stress.
article_snippet.sent: Because of the attention that jihadist beheadings have commanded internationally, "the very concept of beheading, that was virtually non-existent in our unconscious prior to these events being propagated, is now there," some experts such as psychology professor Arie W. Kruglanski told CNN.
article_snippet.sent: A lack of hard data on the global incidence of beheadings makes it impossible to say conclusively whether such killings are being carried out by non-jihadists more often.
article_snippet.sent: Whether or not "non-jihadist" beheadings are on the increase, this brutal method of killing has inarguably come to occupy a larger part of the public consciousness, as ISIS's beheadings have grabbed international headlines and the terror group's call on supporters to attack "disbelievers" has reverberated worldwide.
article_snippet.sent: Beyond this, threats to behead also seem to have gained a wider currency among non-jihadists, said Kruglanski.
article_snippet.sent: The threats and banner demonstrated the way in which the spread of beheading rhetoric may be having a psychologically "brutalizing" effect on society, said Kruglanski, intensifying the violence of our thoughts, words and actions.
article_snippet.sent: While beheading had been adopted by ISIS as their stock in trade, it would inevitably lose it shock value, driving jihadists to ramp up the levels of atrocity in order to continue capturing international attention.
highlights_snippet.sent: The wave of ISIS beheadings has horrified people all over the world .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: The wave of ISIS beheadings may also have contributed to isolated beheading incidents by non-jihadists, says an academic .
  