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Young Israelis' Reactions to National Trauma: The Rabin Assassination andTerror Attacks
Author(s) -
Raviv Amiram,
Sadeh Avi,
Raviv Alona,
Silberstein Ora,
Diver Orna
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
political psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.419
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-9221
pISSN - 0162-895X
DOI - 10.1111/0162-895x.00189
Subject(s) - politics , orientation (vector space) , biology and political orientation , psychology , prime minister , event (particle physics) , suicide prevention , cognition , poison control , social psychology , political science , medicine , psychiatry , law , medical emergency , mathematics , physics , geometry , quantum mechanics
This study examined the cognitive and emotional reactions of 477 Israeli high school students to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (immediately after the event as well as 5 months later) and to a series of terror attacks. The respondents' reactions to the two events were compared as a function of gender and political orientation. About 50% of the respondents who changed their political views immediately after the assassination reverted to pre‐event attitudes 5 months later. Emotional reactions to the assassination showed substantial fading after 5 months, with extent of fading unaffected by gender or political orientation. The intensity of emotional reactions was affected by political orientation: Although Rabin's supporters and his opponents reacted with equal intensity to the terror attacks, supporters reacted with the same intensity to Rabin's assassination, whereas opponents' reactions to the assassination were less intense.