Terrorism and terrorist: From the act to the individual who commits it, representational and emotional differences

Abstract

Introduction: Over the past two decades, France has been marked by several waves of terrorist attacks that have had a strong emotional impact on the population. Objective: The objective of this study is to understand the social representations of terrorism and the emotions associated with it, in the French context. Moreover, we investigated the difference in the emotional relationship of the participants with respect to the event (the terrorist attack) but also to the individual behind the attack (the terrorist individual). Method: An online survey was completed by 308 participants. A free association task based on the inductive term “terrorism” has been proposed. Subsequently, questions of emotional characterization were asked for the word “terrorism”, then for iconographic supports representing the attack and the terrorist individual. Results: The analyzes carried out on free associations have highlighted a dichotomization of the concept of terrorism into two dimensions (that of the event and that of the terrorist individual, who is described there using a stereotypical vocabulary) as well that the central place of emotion. Quantitative data analyzes showed a difference in emotions and intensity between the attack (more characterized by sadness) and the terrorist individual (more characterized by fear and disgust). Conclusion: Insofar as social representations and emotions impact attitudes and intergroup behaviors, these results can contribute to a better understanding of the societal impact of terrorism and provide insights into certain discriminatory behaviors.