Through the Six Stages Framework (SSF) Lens
SSF Weekly Reflection #5 | Week Ending 12 July 2026
What if we are looking in the wrong place?
Over recent weeks, I have found myself reflecting on a series of seemingly unrelated news stories. Reports of racist abuse in football, increasing hostility towards migrants, online hate, conspiracy thinking, organisational failures and growing social polarisation may appear to concern very different issues.
Each story has its own context, its own history and its own complexity. It would be inappropriate to treat them as though they were all the same phenomenon.
Yet, viewed through the Six Stages Framework, they raise a common psychological question.
How do people, organisations and societies gradually move towards harm?
The Six Stages Framework was never developed to predict individual events. Rather, it seeks to understand the psychological processes that help explain why people sometimes move towards greater curiosity, empathy and belonging—and at other times towards fear, certainty, blame, dehumanisation and hate.
The headlines may change, but the underlying psychological processes often remain remarkably familiar.
Looking Beyond the Headlines
When acts of hate or extremism occur, public attention naturally focuses on the event itself. We ask:
- What happened?
- Who was responsible?
- What punishment is appropriate?
- How could this have been prevented?
These are important questions.
But psychology invites us to ask another.
What happened before the event became visible?
By the time hatred becomes overt, the psychological journey has often been unfolding for months or even years.
Few people wake up one morning having suddenly become extremists.
More commonly, movement towards harm begins in much quieter ways.
Curiosity gives way to certainty.
Difference becomes suspicion.
Stereotypes replace relationships.
Blame replaces understanding.
Dialogue becomes increasingly difficult.
Gradually, views become more rigid, more polarised and less open to challenge.
The behaviour we eventually see is often the final expression of a much longer psychological process.
The Six Stages Framework Is About Movement
Movement is gradual. Most people do not move directly from curiosity to extremism. Psychological movement often occurs through a series of increasingly rigid beliefs, reduced empathy and breakdowns in dialogue
One of the most important developments in my own thinking has been the growing realisation that the Six Stages Framework is fundamentally about movement.
It is not a framework for placing permanent labels on people.
Nor is it a framework for dividing the world into those who are “good” and those who are “bad”.
Instead, it recognises that individuals, organisations and even societies move.
Sometimes they move towards:
- curiosity
- understanding
- dialogue
- belonging
- bridge-building
At other times they move towards:
- certainty
- blame
- division
- dehumanisation
- hatred
Understanding that movement matters because movement also creates opportunities for intervention.
The earlier we recognise movement towards harm, the greater the opportunity to change direction.
Looking Back Through the SSF Lens
Preparing this reflection prompted me to revisit articles, blogs and books I have written over many years.
What struck me was not that they described today’s headlines.
They did not.
What struck me instead was how consistently they explored the same psychological questions that continue to emerge today.
Whether writing about everyday racism, hate crime, the Pathway to Violence, psychological safety or If Racism Was a Virus, one concern has remained remarkably constant:
How the Six Stages Framework Helps Us Understand Escalation
How do we recognise movement towards harm early enough to respond before it becomes entrenched?
The Six Stages Framework has evolved considerably since those early writings.
Yet this central question has remained unchanged.
Looking back, I now see those publications not simply as individual pieces of work, but as part of a continuing exploration of how people move towards harm—or towards belonging.
Beyond Racism
Although the Six Stages Framework was originally developed through studying racism, it has gradually evolved into something broader.
Increasingly, I see it as a psychology of human movement.
This helps explain why the Framework can illuminate such different contexts.
Not because racism, organisational bullying, toxic leadership, online abuse, conspiracy thinking and radicalisation are identical.
They are not.
Rather, they often involve similar psychological processes:
- certainty replacing curiosity
- identities becoming threatened
- “us and them” thinking becoming normalised
- empathy reducing
- dialogue breaking down
- harmful behaviour becoming increasingly justified
Understanding these shared processes allows us to intervene earlier without oversimplifying the unique features of each situation.
Why Prevention Matters
Psychology has often been at its strongest when it has helped us understand processes rather than merely describing outcomes.
By the time hatred becomes obvious, much of the psychological journey has already taken place.
The challenge therefore is not simply recognising hate.
It is recognising the gradual movement that makes hate increasingly possible.
This requires us to notice early warning signs rather than waiting for crises.
It requires curiosity rather than certainty.
It requires dialogue rather than polarisation.
Most importantly, it requires us to ask better psychological questions.
A Different Way of Reading the News
One of the purposes of Through the SSF Lens is not simply to comment on current events.
It is to use current events as opportunities to understand enduring psychological processes.
Rather than asking only:
“What happened?”
The SSF also asks:
- What movement do we observe?
- What psychological processes might be operating?
- Where are opportunities for bridge-building?
- How might belonging reduce the likelihood of further harm?
These questions rarely produce simple answers.
But they often produce deeper understanding.
Final Reflection
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing psychology is not simply understanding behaviour once it has become visible.
It is learning to recognise the quieter psychological movements that precede it.
The Six Stages Framework continues to evolve.
Increasingly, I see it not as a framework for explaining isolated events, but as a way of understanding the gradual movements that shape individuals, organisations and societies over time.
If we can become better at recognising those movements, perhaps we can also become better at creating environments where curiosity is protected, dialogue remains possible and belonging becomes part of prevention rather than an afterthought.
Reflective Question
When we encounter division, hostility or hate, are we only noticing the visible outcome—or are we paying sufficient attention to the quieter psychological movements that began much earlier?
Part of the SSF Weekly Reflections series by Dr Shungu M’gadzah, exploring the continuing evolution of the Six Stages Framework as a way of thinking about human behaviour, belonging, leadership and systems change.
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