Political Tolerance and Coming to Psychological Closure Following the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks: An Integrative Approach

• Published in: Personality & social psychology bulletin Vol. 30; no. 6; pp. 743 - 756
• Main Authors: Skitka, Linda J., Bauman, Christopher W., Mullen, Elizabeth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States SAGE Publications 01.06.2004; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aircraft; Anger; Data Collection; Fear; Fear & phobias; Female; Group dynamics; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Morals; New York City; Political Attitudes; Politics; Psychological Theories; Public Opinion; Social Conditions; Social Values; Terrorism; Tolerance; Virginia; New York City; Virginia; intergroup relations; anger; terrorism; political tolerance; fear
• ISSN: 0146-1672; 1552-7433
• DOI: 10.1177/0146167204263968

This study tested hypotheses generated from an integrative model of political tolerance that derived hypotheses from a number of different social psychological theories (e.g., appraisal tendency theory, intergroup emotion theory, and value protection models) to explain political tolerance following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A national field study (N = 550) found that immediate post attack anger and fear had different implications for political tolerance 4 months later. The effects of anger on political tolerance were mediated through moral outrage and outgroup derogation, whereas the effects of fear on political tolerance were mediated through personal threat, ingroup enhancement, and value affirmation. Value affirmation led to increased political tolerance, whereas moral outrage, outgroup derogation, ingroup enhancement, and personal threat led to decreased political tolerance. Value affirmation, moral outrage, and outgroup derogation also facilitated post-9/11 psychological closure and increased psychological closure led to greater political tolerance.