Are Terrorists Mentally Deranged?

Recent terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon have accentuated the threat of terrorism. However, it appears that the attackers are popularly thought of as mentally deranged individuals who are evil. This article suggests that such an understanding is a misperception of these people and may interfere with an adequate response to prevent future attacks. The article reviews the extant literature on psychological theories of terrorism and concludes that terrorists are not dysfunctional or pathological; rather, it suggests that terrorism is basically another form of politically motivated violence that is perpetrated by rational, lucid people who have valid motives. The only real difference between terrorism and conventional military action is one of strategy. Terrorists lack the necessary resources to wage war in furtherance of their political goals.     

The Compassion Fatigue Scale: Its Use With Social Workers Following Urban Disaster

OBJECTIVE: The present study has two goals: to assess the difference between secondary trauma and job burnout and to examine the utility of secondary trauma in predicting psychological distress. METHOD: The data come from a survey of social workers (N = 236) living in New York City 20 months following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC). RESULTS: Social workers' involvement in WTC recovery efforts is related to secondary trauma but not burnout. Analyses also reveal that both secondary trauma and burnout are related to psychological distress after controlling for other risk factors. CONCLUSION: This study supports the importance of compassion fatigue as a risk factor for social workers counseling traumatized clients and its association with psychological problems.     

9/11 Volunteerism: A pathway to personal healing and community engagement

This paper is a longitudinal analysis of the impacts of spontaneous volunteerism on those who responded to emergency needs immediately following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. Our qualitative study investigates the long-term implications for the volunteers who participated in a myriad of helping behaviors ranging from working on the bucket brigade to serving food to rescue workers to working as translators for victims’ families. This project consists of two waves of data collection. The first set of in-depth interviews with 23 volunteers was conducted in the weeks following the attacks in the fall of 2001. In the second wave of interviews over 3 years later, we interviewed 20 volunteers, nearly half of whom were original respondents in the first wave. Through our analysis, we found that taking action facilitated meaningful therapeutic recovery from feelings of victimization following the event. In addition to the apparent long-term impact on personal healing, the opportunity to volunteer had lasting impacts on self-concept that translated to significant changes in life choices. The second wave of research also reveals that the experience of action impacted the volunteers’ community sentiment by fostering new levels of identification with and affinity for members of their community. In addition, community response work in the aftermath of a disaster appeared to increase community engagement in non-disaster times.     

Insuring September 11th: Market Recovery and Transparency

The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center caused unprecedented economic and structural ramifications in the insurance markets, resulting in considerable uncertainty and informational asymmetry. We test several theoretical models of how markets respond to and recover from extreme capital shocks. Using the capacity constraint, post-loss investment and implicit insurance contract models, we develop testable hypotheses predicting the temporal and cross sectional variation in insurance company stock prices following September 11th. We find evidence consistent with the models' predictions, in particular, the predictions regarding relations between net losses and leverage and stock price performance after the shock.     

Understanding the September 11 Terrorist Attack on America: The Role of Intergroup Theories of Normative Influence

The present article analyzes the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in terms of current theories of normative influence in intergroup conflict. The (conflicting) implications of various social psychological models of decision making for Western and American attempts to reduce the likelihood of further attacks are delineated. We examine the implications of social identity models and models of outgroup normative influence, as well as dynamic models of intergroup behavior that focus on the polarizing effects of outgroup hostility. The influence of Western responses is distinguished for various target audiences, including not only the terrorists, but also pro-Western Muslims in North America and Europe, unaligned Muslims, and Muslims with anti-American feelings who do not endorse terrorism.     

The Definition of Terrorism

This article addresses the definition of terrorism. It is intended to provide a foundation from which to understand the recent attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Although terrorism appears to be much less dangerous than other forms of violence, it seems to command more attention. In order to respond to terrorism, a clear definition is necessary. Terrorism is defined by Title 22 of the U.S. Code as politically motivated violence perpetrated in a clandestine manner against noncombatants. Experts on terrorism also include another aspect in the definition: the act is committed in order to create a fearful state of mind in an audience different from the victims. Whether or not an act is considered terrorism also depends on whether a legal, moral, or behavioral perspective is used to interpret the act. If a legal or moral perspective is used, the values of the interpreter are the focus rather than the act itself. A behavioral perspective appears to be best suited for interpreting and reacting to terrorism.     

Reflections on 9/11: Vulnerability and strength in the “new world order”

One year after the tragedy and horror of the events of September 11, 2001, many still struggle to understand their meaning and long‐term impact. This article provides a brief overview of critical stress debriefings and describes the author's work offering disaster mental health services to survivors of the World Trade Center attacks in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 disaster. The essay considers gaps in mental health services and the toll that such relief work can take on mental health responders. Implications for healing are considered in the context of the government's crackdown on civil liberties and its plans for war with Iraq.     

Assisting older victims of disasters: roles and responsibilities for social workers

The tumultuous catastrophic tragedies of the Oklahoma bombing in 1995 and September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon have caused urgency for the profession of social work to be ready to respond to unexpected crises whether directed to an individual, group, or nation. While there has always been the possibility of tragedies in the U.S. caused by nature (so-called "acts of God") or the spontaneous or planned acts of criminals or the deranged, the increased awareness of catastrophes includes, as never before, disasters that are perpetrated by terrorist acts from within or outside of the U.S. The creation of the Department of Homeland Security, in 2003, underscores the need for awareness and for preparation on the part of the nation. Based upon its skills and values, social workers have significant roles to play in the face of potential and actual disasters; yet, gerontological social workers have additional responsibilities for addressing the needs of older persons. It is the purpose of this article to provide an overview of issues to be considered by social workers, in general, and gerontological social workers, in particular, with regard to preparation for possible disasters and the consequences from such catastrophes that affect older persons.     

Catastrophic Events,Parameter Uncertainty and the Breakdown of Implicit Long-Term Contracting: The Case of Terrorism Insurance

This paper examines the reaction of the stock prices of U.S. property-casualty insurers to the World Trade Center (WTC) terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Theories of insurance market equilibrium and theories of long-term contracting predict that large loss events which deplete capital and increase parameter uncertainty will affect weakly capitalized insurers more significantly than stronger firms. The empirical results are consistent with this prediction. Insurance stock prices generally declined following the WTC attack. However, the stock prices of insurers with strong financial ratings rebounded after the first post-event week, while those of weaker insurers did not, consistent with the flight-to-quality hypothesis.     

Journalists as first responders

ABSTRACT

Covering terrorist attacks has posed numerous challenges to mainstream media across the world. Bringing information to the public quickly remains a primary goal for news media, but the journalistic duty to tell the truth comes with an increased responsibility for the accuracy of reports. When news is broken by civilian eyewitnesses and is posted by social media before it has even gone through the barest of verification checks, news media editors struggle to fulfil the task of informing the public while reporting on stories that hold the potential to alarm the audience. This paper offers some insights into the ways the New Zealand news media organised reporting on the March 15th terrorist attack in Christchurch. Based on face-to-face interviews with selected editors of major news organisations in New Zealand, it investigates the ways they operated in this situation. It explores key moments in editorial decision making on 15 March 2019, the first day of coverage of the terrorist attack. It focuses on the ‘first responder’ elements of news media work – speed and accuracy in providing information about the mosque attacks – to identify how journalistic norms are adapted and changed to report this breaking news.     

Applied Social and Community Interventions for Crisis in Times of National and International Conflict

This article discusses the social, community, national, and international psychological implications of the great energy and movement in our country after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. To determine ways that applied psychologists can have a positive effect on the crisis, Kurt Lewin's (1948; 1951) concept of locomotion at community and national levels is used to discuss the need for interventions that will produce driving factors to continue movement toward positive helping behaviors, and restraining factors when this momentum leads to potentially dangerous responses to the conflict (e.g., group think, an overextended enthusiasm for war, a sense of psychological immediacy or nonimmediacy for victims, and prejudice against Muslim individuals). The author offers ten approaches that applied psychologists could use to drive, restrain, and guide locomotion in this and similar crises both in the United States and abroad.     

Australian Muslim Responses to the Discourse on Terrorism in the Australian Popular Media

The media is often referred to as a social institution in that it is a major element of contemporary Western society. Through the media, social processes create narratives or stories within interpretative frameworks that are embedded in the cultural and political assumptions of the wider society. Since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in September 2001, the media has played a crucial role in the developing discourse on contemporary terrorism. In the Australian context, this discourse has emerged as one which implicates Australian Muslims, constructing them as a homogenous monolith with an underlying implication that Islam, and by association Australian Muslims, is secular resistant and at odds with the values of the liberal democratic state. Several textual analyses attest to the bias against Muslims in the popular Australian media discourse. However, there have been no studies into how Australian Muslims are interpreting and responding to this discourse. Based on research into the attitudes and perceptions of the media among Australian Muslims, this paper argues that the interpretation of the media discourse as defiantly anti‐Muslim and the perception of the media as a powerful purveyor of public opinion has impacted on the construction of Australian Muslim identity. In responding to this discourse, Australian Muslims are creating new narratives of belonging which either reinforce or reject the underlying messages that situate them outside mainstream Australia.     

A Time to Hate: Situational Antecedents of Intergroup Bias

Shortly after the World Trade Center was destroyed, reports began to appear of hate crimes against Americans of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent. This article provides a summary of social psychological research that explains why certain events might promote intergroup bias. The literature on the correlation between hate crimes and potential precipitating factors is also reviewed. Finally, a few brief suggestions are made, based on previous research, as to how these crimes might be prevented.     

Directions in border security research

This research note offers an appraisal of the contemporary state of U.S.-Mexico border security studies. An overview of recent literature on this subject is connected through two landmark political developments impacting the U.S.-Mexico frontier: the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001. These two political events have had a major effect both on the ground and in the academy as scholars attempt to come to terms with the contradictions, complexities, and general problems of border security under neoliberal free trade and the threat of terrorism. The analysis concludes that while some important research in U.S.-Mexico border security exists, recent developments—coupled with pre-existing gaps in the literature—suggest that much crucial work remains to be done to understand and evaluate the complex dynamics of the new border security environment.     

Muslim Women as Citizens in Australia: Diverse Notions and Practices

The paper explores the nature of Muslim women's activism before and after the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001. Drawing on the information gathered since the early 1990s, it argues that the focus on Muslim militancy has prompted Muslim women living in Western Australia to become more active citizens. The emerging activism is following two diverse directions: some Muslim women favour orthodox interpretations of Islam as guides to citizenship, whereas others favour a more liberal/moderate approach to being a Muslim and a citizen in Australia. Governmental agencies, it suggests, need to appreciate and take into account this diversity of views and approaches among Muslim women when designing their strategies for engaging Muslims living under their jurisdiction.     

Women's abuse of their children in the context on domestic violence: reflection from women's accounts

This paper draws upon the findings of a study that looked at women's experiences of mothering in the context of co-occurrence of domestic violence and child abuse, and considers the issue of women's violence towards children – while acknowledging the fact that men are the main perpetrators of violence towards women and children in these families. The paper first explores the relationship between women's victimization and women's violence, and suggests that women's abuse of their children can be seen as a consequence of their own experiences of domestic violence. The findings nonetheless suggest that abused women have agency, and therefore have responsibilities when they chose to use violence towards their children. The paper also considers the feelings of guilt and blame that tend to arise in these circumstances. Implications for research, policy and practice are identified.     

Brutality of Jihadist terrorism. A contest theory perspective and empirical evidence in the period 2002–2010

We interpret the emergence of Jihadist terrorism in the light of contest theory. Al Qaeda may be portrayed as a contest organizer, providing a ‘prize’ to the best terrorist group. Each group maximizes its probability of winning by launching attacks more destructive than previous ones perpetrated by competing groups. This hypothesis is confirmed by the empirical analysis which shows that the number of victims of terrorist attacks increases compared to number of victims of previous attacks in the same country. An upward trend in terrorist brutality is the outcome of competition between groups. Results also show that Al Qaeda-style terrorism is associated with poverty and underprivileged socio-economic conditions.     

Is there gender symmetry in intimate partner violence?

‘Gender symmetry’ is one of the most topical and controversial debates in the contemporary domestic violence literature. National survey data, particularly from the USA, has been utilized to support the concept of gender symmetry of violence between intimate partners. Both these statistics and the reliability of the methodologies used to obtain this data have been the focus of fierce criticism in the domestic violence literature. These debates have spread into the general media and now influence social workers' and students' understanding of violence between intimate partners. Recent work, however, has suggested helpful typologies for a better understanding of intimate partner violence (IPV), and research has explored their validity. A comprehensive understanding of the implications of these debates is important for safe social work interventions as assessments and interventions must be based on an accurate understanding of the aetiology, dynamics and consequences of violence between intimate partners. It is important that practitioners are aware of the background to and complexity of these debates and the ongoing work on typologies of violence, as such understanding will enhance assessments and thereby ensure more appropriate social work interventions. This paper traces the debates and outlines the new developments, which can enhance assessments and understanding of IPV.     

Homeland attack and homepage response: a preliminary review of affected business entities’ online corroboration/explanation of September 11 economic impact

This research examines the reporting of negative economic impact resulting from September 11, 2001 terrorism incidents. Student researchers who coordinated the project began with MSNBC’s World Wide Web-based “Layoff List” containing the names of corporate entities that claimed economic harm from the terrorist attacks. Students identified business problems and categorized resulting responses (taken or proposed) reported by MSNBC. Then, a content analysis was conducted of affected firms’ institutional Web sites for corroboration and/or explanation of the claimed economic injury. Although 99% of the business entities subjected to study had institutional Web sites, 84% of the firms made no mention of injury claim(s) on their institutional site. Among entities which did make online corroboration/explanation of media reports, fewer than half did so with detailed financial reports and most used rhetorical strategies that made business issues sound ambiguous while focusing blame for problems on variables outside the organization’s control.     

Emotional Climate as Emotion Accessibility: How Countries Prime Emotions

Many everyday collective emotions are shared emotional conventions, that is, social practices with an attributed emotional meaning (e.g., complimenting as a sign of conventional love). Emotional conventions lead to a collective priming of some categories of emotion. For example, New Year Eve's emotional conventions prime words such as "happy." We define emotional atmosphere and emotional climate as emotion accessibility caused by the priming of specific categories of emotion linked to emotional conventions. We report two sets of data in support of this approach: (1) the accessibility of categories of emotion in relation to unusual historical events (the 1992 World Expo in Seville and the March–April 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid), and (2) the differential priming of specific categories of emotion on the Internet in different countries. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this approach to "emotional climate."