The Consequences of Terrorism: Disentangling the Effects of Personal and National Threat

Abstract

The events of 11 September 2001 have led to a higher perceived risk of terrorism in the United States. A better understanding of the political consequences of 9/11 requires a more complete accounting of the nature and consequences of perceived threat. Here, the distinction between perceived personal and national risks is examined in terms of two competing hypotheses: (1) The personal threat of terrorism has a pervasive influence even on national decisions and perceptions, in line with its highly arousing nature. (2) The effects of personal threat are highly circumscribed and overshadowed by the impact of perceived national threat, consistent with findings on the meager impact of self-interest and other personal concerns on public opinion. A survey of 1,221 residents of Long Island and Queens, New York, explored the degree to which personal and national threat affect perceptions of the consequences of, and possible solutions to, terrorism. As expected, there was a clear distinction between perceived personal and national threat, although the two are related. Perceived personal threat did not influence the perceived economic consequences of terrorism, although it had a narrow effect on personal behaviors designed to minimize risk. Overall, the findings imply that the effects of personal threat are circumscribed, consistent with past research on the limited personal basis of political judgments. However, the tests of these hypotheses were constrained by a limited set of dependent variables that included national consequences but not policy solutions designed to limit terrorism.

Nordmenns holdninger til telefonavlytting: Resultaterfra et surveyeksperiment

“…Denne forskningen, som hovedsakelig er basert på en amerikansk kontekst, har som nevnt vist at terrorfrykt styrker gruppetilhørigheten til grupper som er lik en selv, mens befolkningen blir mer fiendtlig innstilt overfor grupper de oppfatter som annerledes (Sunstein 2004;Huddy, Feldman, Capelos & Provost 2002;Huddy et al 2005;Huddy & Feldman 2011). Med andre ord: gruppetenkningen forsterkes i fryktpregede situasjoner.…”

“…I analysen undersøkes en rekke kjennetegn ved innbyggerne som litteraturen har pekt på som viktige i undersøkelsen av holdninger til antiterrorpolitikk og terrorfrykt (Huddy Grupper Forskjeller ( al. 2002;Lerner, Gonzales, Small & Fishhof 2003;Gadarian 2010;Albertson & Gadarian 2015).…”

The Fear-Generating Effect of Terrorism Act and Social Media Responses in the Case of Sarinah Bombing, Jakarta, Indonesia

“…The feel of fear and insecurity generated after the accident can be translated into a personal threat by each individual and then will influence their behavior. This presumption of personal threat will make every individual take a measures to minimize their exposure to risk and motivate them to take action to reduce the risk [4]. This change on personal behavior of each individual, will make a great change on how the society behave.…”

Terrorism and Public Opinion in Australia

“…A number of studies have shown that there is a strong relationship between threat perceptions and public opinion (Arian 1989;Huddy et al 2002Huddy et al , 2005. Terrorist threat perceptions, public opinion and support for public policy are often linked to underlying factors such as high media exposure, global experience and political knowledge (Ridout, Grosse and Appleton 2008).…”