Conservative Shift Among High-Exposure Survivors of the September 11th Terrorist Attacks

Abstract

Potentially traumatic events evoke a wide range of responses and outcomes. From a motivated social cognitive approach to ideology, system-threatening events such as 9/11 should increase psychological needs to manage uncertainty and threat and, therefore, the appeal of politically conservative opinions. We investigated "conservative shift" among high-exposure survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (n = 45) and its relationship to coping and adjustment. Results indicated that Democrats and Independents (as well as Republicans) were more likely to shift toward conservatism and away from liberalism following 9/11. Despite its prevalence, we found relatively little evidence that embracing conservatism was related to improved well-being as measured either in terms of survivors' mental health symptoms or friends-relatives' ratings of their psychological adjustment. On the contrary, political conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism, and conservative shift were generally associated with the following: chronically elevated levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, desire for revenge and militarism, cynicism, and decreased use of humor. Conservative shift was also associated with increased religiosity, patriotism, and the perception that the events of 9/11 created new interests and opportunities, suggesting that it may contain some adaptive (as well as maladaptive) features.

Long-term effect of September 11 on the political behavior of victims’ families and neighbors

“…Short-term and long-term changes stemming from the attacks may help us understand how common citizens react to the stress and threat of mass terrorism. Following 9/11, researchers found heightened levels of posttraumatic stress across the country (1), especially close to the New York attacks (2), as well as increases in individuals' trust in government (3) and conservative political attitudes (4). Heightened levels of stress and threat are linked to authoritarian political attitudes (5)(6)(7).…”

Collective memory as tool for intergroup conflict: The case of 9/11 commemoration

“…Research suggests that high-intensity exposure to the attacks resulted in a general conservative shift and a desire for revenge among a sample of New Yorkers, regardless of the survivor's political ideology (Bonanno & Jost, 2006). More generally, results of a three-wave study with undergraduates before and after the 9/11 attacks indicated that positive attitudes towards war were greater on September, 20, 2001 compared to one year prior, although these attitudes returned to baseline within one year (Carnagey & Anderson, 2007).…”

Support to military or humanitarian counterterrorism interventions: the effect of interpersonal and intergroup attitudes

“…These studies have shown that terrorist events -when defined as being serious threats to national security -usually promote support for military actions. Furthermore, many scholars (Bonanno & Jost, 2006;Crowson, DeBacker, & Thoma, 2005;Heaven, Organ, Supavadeeprasit, & Leeson, 2006;McFarland, 2005) have pointed out the effect of both Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) in predicting attitudes related to the use of military aggression as part of the war on terror. RWA is defined as the covariation of three attitudinal clusters: submission to authority, aggression against conventional targets, and conventionalism (Altemeyer, 1996).…”

“…RWA is defined as the covariation of three attitudinal clusters: submission to authority, aggression against conventional targets, and conventionalism (Altemeyer, 1996). SDO identifies "a general attitudinal orientation toward intergroup relations, reflecting whether one generally prefers such relations to be equal versus hierarchical" (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994, p. 742 Bonanno and Jost (2006) demonstrated that RWA was positively associated with support for the war in Afghanistan.…”