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Changes in attitudes towards war and violence after September 11, 2001
Author(s) -
Carnagey Nicholas L.,
Anderson Craig A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/ab.20173
Subject(s) - aggression , psychology , suicide prevention , terrorism , injury prevention , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , social psychology , occupational safety and health , demography , developmental psychology , medicine , medical emergency , political science , law , sociology
Two inter‐related studies examined the effect of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on attitudes towards war and violence. A three‐wave between‐subjects analysis revealed that attitudes towards war became more positive after September 11, 2001 and remained high over a year afterwards. Self‐reported trait physical aggression also rose after September 11. Attitudes towards penal code violence (PCV) became more positive immediately after September 11, but were somewhat reduced a year afterward. A two‐wave within subjects study revealed that war attitudes became even more positive at 2 months post‐September 11. Attitudes towards PCV became less positive during this time period, but only for women. Other aggression‐related attitudes were not affected in either study. These studies demonstrate that a large‐scale event can change attitudes, but those attitudes must be directly relevant to the event. Aggr. Behav. 33:1–12, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss; Inc.