This study investigated Terrorism Cognition and Violent Extremism as influenced by Cultural Orientation and Social Anxiety in Nigerian, using 200 Northern Nigerian Samples, and 200 Eastern Nigerian Samples. Design was cross-sectional, with MANOVA and descriptive statistics. Findings: Terrorism Cognition, and Violent Extremism are significantly influenced by Cultural Orientation, and Social Anxiety, which differ significantly for Eastern and Northern Nigerian samples; Terrorism cognition as significantly influenced by Cultural Orientation (P≤ .05≥ .015 & .019; P≤ .001 ≥ .000), and Social Anxiety (p≤ .05≥ .038 & .014; p≤ .001 ≥ .000) is above average for Northern samples, but below average for Eastern samples; Knowledge of Violent Extremism as significantly influenced by Cultural Orientation (P≤ .05≥ .036), and Social Anxiety (P≤ .05≥ .021 & .015) is above average for Eastern samples, but below average for Northern samples. Recommendation: Counter-terrorism and anti-terrorism policies in Nigeria should incorporate rebranding cultural and social values (systems).
Keywords: Cross-Cultural, Nigeria, cultural-orientation, social-anxiety, terrorism-cognition, violent-extremism