Psychological_Responses_to_Terror

Psychological Responses to Terror Lucinda Beatty Introduction: Psychological Responses to Terror Two historical and tragic disasters of civilian annihilation of are depicted the 1915 Sinking of Lusitania and the September 11th Terrorists Attacks. These two disasters were over one hundred years apart yet similarities are common fundamentals such as goals of warfare. With the militant goals of control and domination, manipulation fuels the strategic battle plan. Though the means have evolved, warfare strategies still beckon the same results. Military’s most intense weapons is psychological warfare and the only way to battle psychological warfare is to counter it with psychological defenses. Beyond historical facts and comparisons found in the two mentioned disasters, psychological concepts are analyzed in the behavioral responses to terror. The Lusitania Disaster Historical facts of the Lusitania Disaster report that the ship was in route from New York City to Liverpool England carrying civilian American passengers. As the liner approached Liverpool, England it was struck by a torpedo from a German submarine. Resulting, the Lusitania exploded and civilian passengers died, one hundred and twenty-three of the civilian passengers were American. ( In the case of the Sinking of the 1915 Lusitania, the public was greatly deceived. The liner was financed by British Admiralty with its intended use for matters of war. The completion of Lusitania came during a time of peace, so temporarily, the liner commuted civilian passengers between Liverpool and New York City. Unknown to civilian passengers, in 1913, two years before the tragedy, Lusitania's commission was for war service and its equipment included gun mounts hidden by a teak deck. On May 1, 1915, the day the German's attacked the Lusitania, the contents of its shipment included a colossal portion of war-type supplies. Had the government informed passengers of its cargo, perhaps not as many The September 11th Disaster On September 11, 2001 America fell victim to terrorists' attacks by radical Muslims trained by the terrorist organization, Al-Qaida. The Muslim terrorist hijacked passenger airplanes to use as weapons. The first two hijacked airplanes the terrorists crashed into New York City's Twin Towers, the location of America's financial icon, the World Trade Center. Another hijacked plane crashed into the United States Pentagon located in Washington, D.C. The last plane hijacked by terrorists was unsuccessful. Through heroic actions of the American passengers of flight 93, the terrorists plan was foiled. The passengers of Flight 93 took control of the plane and it crashed in a Pennsylvania field (History.com, 2011). This was not the first act of terror by Al-Qaida, other countries fell victim to their terror as well. For instance, in 1998, Al-Qaida bombed the United States Embassy in Africa. Though world justice is not swift, repercussions of this terrorism prompted the United Nation's Report on the Al-Qaida Terrorist Network and the Taliban. In July of 2001, the United Nations Security Council established a committee to monitor international cooperation with an arms embargo and the council imposed financial sanctions against Al-Qaida. The established committee proved valuable as a counter-terrorism plan because it placed Al-Qaida under watchful eyes by multiple countries. The United Nations Security Council, however, failed to disclose to the United States pertinent names of suspected terrorists (United Nations, 2004). Only speculation surmises if greater transparency by the United Nations Security Council's anti-terrorism efforts could have saved American lives or even prevented the September 11th Terrorists' Attacks. Disaster Dissimilarities and Similarities Dissimilarities are found in the details of each disaster. The most important difference was the perpetrators actions of each event. In the Lusitania disaster the Germans, acted with high regard to the sanctity of human life. Attempting to warn American Civilians of the pending danger, according to the New York Times, the Germans posted a notice in the American paper informing Americans that the Lusitania was traveling amidst a war zone. Alternatively, in the September 11th terrorists attacks, the perpetrators', the radical Muslims, acted with vengeance and hate intending to annihilate American civilians. (The Lusitania Disaster Overview .2011) Similarities between the two disasters are equally disturbing. The 1915 Sinking of the Lusitania and the September 11th terrorist attacks both involved foreign foes which by defending retaliation became America's the target in war. In both accounts the current American president promptly addressed the American people to ensure that their previous vulnerability to enemy attack would effectively be the motivation for a strengthening of national security and a military retaliation was warranted. Though the American people were consumed with emotions of rage, resentment, vengeance, grief, and guilt somehow promises of military retaliation dulled the intensity of the hoist of emotions. The most disturbing similarity of these two tragedies was the concealment of potential live saving information from Americans (History.com, 2011). Psychological concepts of Terror Management The terror management theory proposes that what allows people to cope with terror resounding in the face of death is a similar foundational worldview. This worldview of faith contends that security and stability is sustainable in the structure of their culture and individuals view themselves as a valuable assets to society. As an example of the reinforcement in this concept of the terror management theory, is exhibited come from the actions of President George Bush post September 11th . With the knowledge that the Muslims cultural worldview was in opposition to the American people, President George Bush, preserved the sanctity of American life with the only possible retaliation; America declared war against terrorism. This action is referred to the psychological of annihilation in the Terror Management Theory. Strongly associated with the Terror Management concept of annihilation is the concept of terror management called assimilation. (Pyszczynski, Solomon, Greenberg, 2003). Assimilation is the gathering of groups of people who unite while supporting the same cultural worldviews. Often supporting leadership encourages assimilation by psychological means . (Pyszczynski, Solomon, Greenberg, 2003). Following both of these disasters the American Government manipulated the American people as if they were human pawns in a chess game. Military strategies encompass the awareness that human behavior is forever initiated through emotional venues. Challenges to strong beliefs such as religious, political, or national security systems are emotional behavior triggers . Triggers of Emotional behaviors are initiated by one of the body’s the five senses, most often the sense of sight. As seeing is the prompt of believing, sight becomes the highest rank means of psychological manipulation such as in the use of propaganda (Shah,2006). Americans were subject to massive amounts of propaganda in the aftermath of the two disasters. In the Sinking of the Lusitania, methods of publicity were limited and the source of propaganda was primarily posters and newspapers. In fact, it was the newspapers that bolstered a supportive public opinion of the war (Duffy,2011). Following the September 11th terrorists attacks, however, propaganda was not as primitive. The modern technology of television and the internet allowed media to repeatedly play the video of the hijacked airplanes crashing into the twin towers (Shah,2006).Multiple times for days, weeks, and months the American people viewed the disaster. This large amount of propaganda, post the Lusitania disaster and the September 11th disaster posed as continual reminders of American's mortality salience, the conscious thoughts of potential death. The uses of propaganda served as a psychological tool to encourage the assimilation of American people for united support in times of war (Pyszczynski, Solomon, Greenberg, 2003). Other psychological concepts of terror management are direct psychological responses in expressed the form of psychological defense mechanisms. Historical public reactions following disasters such as the Lusitania Disaster as well as the September 11th Terrorists Attacks. display several examples of the use of psychological defense mechanisms such as Intensifying the Quest for Meaning and Value, The Intense need of Altruistic Actions, and Driven to Distraction. (Pyszczynski, Solomon, Greenberg, 2003). Americans' reactions following both the 1915 Sinking of the Lusitania and the September 11th disasters display examples of the psychological response to terror, Intensifying the Quest for Meaning. For example, a the surge of religious activity was reported in 1915 after the Sinking of Lusitania despite the previous worries of religious leaders that materialism had bewitched the public’s priorities. The entrance of the United States into World War I sparked church membership.. The reported increase of church members reached a historical high in the year 1915. According to the New York Time, by the end of 1915, the total amount of church members was 40,000,000. This was forty percent of the population of United States. Additionally , there was a marked increase in the production of religious books as well as the sale increases of other religious material such as the increased sales of religious music. This common psychological defense mechanism was also noticeable following September 11th Terrorists Attacks (New York Times, 1915,December,24). Public reactions post the September 11th Terrorists Attacks also produced a marked increase of religious activity. As reported, In the Wake of 9/11: the Psychology of Terror, many Americans returned to their religious roots following the September 11th attacks . Reportedly, church attendance had reached its highest since the 1950's following the September 11th attacks. Additionally, there were reports that Bible sales increased by forty-five percent. A further surprise and twist of irony was that the largest increases in attendees were atheists (Pyszczynski, Solomon, Greenberg, 2003). Another psychological defense mechanism to terror is The Intense need of Altruistic Actions .The definition of altruism is the desire to be helpful, kind, generous, and encouraging to others. By bestowing these values towards others, people regenerate their worth and value that bolsters their self esteem (Pyszczynski, Solomon, Greenberg, 2003) A surge of charitable actions were made by Americans following the September 11th attacks. States comprised drop off sites to gather supplies for victims and volunteers. Many charitable organizations designated specific relief funds for the victims of September 11th . Responses from rescue volunteers were overwhelming as they arrived from all over the country?(Shah,2006). The last illustrated psychological defense mechanism is t Driven to Distraction. An example of distraction post September 11th is actually one which was by prompted by Former American President George Bush. Quotes by President George Bush following September 11th projected the psychological defense mechanism of distraction such as , "The American people have got to go about their business. We cannot let the terrorists achieve the objective of frightening our nation to the point where we don't conduct our business, where people don't shop." as well as his statement," Well, Mrs. Bush and I want to encourage Americans to go out shopping." (Pyszczynski, Solomon, Greenberg, 2003 p. 97). One can only wonder if the president's encouragement of shopping was to imply a" I'll so you" attitude. Was shopping a way Americans could mock the terrorists who attacked their financial icon' Was the message one to prove to the terrorists that the consumers and not necessarily the trade market drive the United States economy' Perhaps President Bush was unaware of his encouragement of the psychological defense mechanism of distraction but his statements do acknowledged its use. Conclusion: Psychological Response to Terror Human response to the terror of disaster is an increase of mortality salience, which forces the use of psychological defense mechanisms. For this reason the Terror Management Theory was created to gauge the impact of a disasters in relationship to human psychological behaviors such as in the 1915 Sinking of Lusitania and the September 11th Terrorists Attacks. References Duffy, M. (2011). First World War .Retrieved August 19,2011 from http://www.firstworld war .com History.com (2001). 9-11 Attacks. A&E Corporate Network. Retrieved August 21,2011 from http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks New York Times. (1915,December,24).Great strides Made by Religion in 1915. Retrieved August 21,2011 from Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Greenberg, J. (2003). In the Wake of 9/11 The Psychology of Terror. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Shah, A.(2006,September 9). Media, Propaganda and September 11.Retrieved August 21,2011 from http://www.globalissues.org/article/401/media-propaganda-and-september-11 The Lusitania Disaster Overview .(2011). Retrieved February 16, 2006 from https: //edge. apus. edu/access/content/ group/164177/ Lusitania%20Disaster %20Resources %20(for%20