The Impact of Terrorism on Perceptions of Justice and Decision-Making

恐怖主义对正义观念和决策的影响

• 批准号: 0422544
• 负责人: Angela Cole
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Howard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-08-01 至 2006-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0422544&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Impact; Terrorism; Perceptions; Justice; Decision

This research project will investigate the effects of security threats and death-related thoughts on our decision-making processes. Specifically, the following research questions will be addressed: (1) how do events that threaten our security and remind us of our mortality affect perceptions of the fairness of policies that diminish civil liberties; and (2) how do security threats and death-related thoughts affect the relationship between one's fairness perceptions and later judgments about policies, authorities, and institutions? These questions are particularly important in light of the recent trend following 9/11, whereby Americans appear more willing to defer without reservation to authorities' imposition of severe restrictions on civil liberties, with very little opportunity for public comment and discussion. This trend runs counter to numerous psychological social justice studies, which show that individuals consider it fairer and are more satisfied when they are allowed meaningful input into policies that affect them. In addition, these judgments of fairness and satisfaction have important implications for citizens' commitment to and perceptions of the legitimacy of institutions and authorities. On the other hand, this trend is consistent with studies of terror management, which show that when individuals are forced to contemplate their own mortality, they embrace others whom they perceive to be defenders of their cultural worldview and place greater emphasis on core values such as national security.A series of studies will examine factors that influence individuals' willingness to defer to authorities and tolerate policies that limit individual rights and freedoms under experimental conditions where half of the participants are forced to contemplate their own death. University students will be administered questionnaires and asked to indicate (1) their reactions to university policy changes that limit rights and freedoms in response to a major or minor security threat, (2) their evaluations of the institutional authorities who impose those changes, and (3) their commitment to the institution. Participants confronted with their own mortality are expected to be more tolerant of policies, more positive in their evaluations of authorities and more committed to institutions, as well as less concerned about the opportunity for public comment and discussion than those who are not confronted with thoughts about their own death, especially in response to a major security threat.

该研究项目将调查安全威胁和死亡相关想法对我们决策过程的影响。具体而言，以下研究问题将得到解决：（1）如何做的事件，威胁我们的安全，并提醒我们的死亡率影响的公平性的政策，减少公民自由的看法;（2）如何做安全威胁和死亡相关的思想影响一个人的公平性的看法和后来的判断政策，当局和机构之间的关系？ 鉴于9/11事件后的最新趋势，这些问题尤其重要，美国人似乎更愿意毫无保留地服从当局对公民自由的严格限制，很少有机会公开评论和讨论。这一趋势与许多心理社会正义研究背道而驰，这些研究表明，当人们被允许对影响他们的政策提出有意义的意见时，他们认为这更公平，更满意。此外，这些对公平和满意度的判断对公民对机构和当局合法性的承诺和看法具有重要影响。另一方面，这一趋势与恐怖管理的研究是一致的，这些研究表明，当个人被迫考虑自己的死亡时，一系列研究将考察影响个人服从当局意愿和容忍限制个人自由的政策的因素。在实验条件下，一半的参与者被迫考虑自己的死亡。将向大学生发放问卷，要求他们说明（1）他们对大学政策变化的反应，这些政策变化限制了权利和自由，以应对重大或轻微的安全威胁，（2）他们对实施这些变化的机构当局的评价，以及（3）他们对机构的承诺。面对死亡的参与者预计会对政策更加宽容，对当局的评价更加积极，对机构更加忠诚，与那些没有面对死亡的人相比，他们更不关心公众评论和讨论的机会，特别是在应对重大安全威胁时。