The role of revenge, denial, and terrorism distress in restoring just world beliefs: the impact of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on British and Indian students.
Just world beliefs for students (N = 413) from India and the United Kingdom were measured. The participants then read a scenario about the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai. The participants were then assessed for terrorism distress and offered multiple strategies (revenge and denial) to restore their just world beliefs. The findings indicate that students resident in India along with those who hold strong just world beliefs felt more distress, held a greater desire for revenge, and demonstrated more denial than the British students and those who had weak beliefs in a just world. These results indicate the important role just world beliefs play in responding to the threat created by mass casualty terrorist attacks. The implications for just world theory are also discussed.
Liverpool Hope University, Department of Psychology, Hope Park, Liverpool L16 9JD, UK. fergusn@hope.ac.uk
Neil
N
Ferguson
Shanmukh V
SV
Kamble
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents; D008875:Middle Aged; D011678:Punishment; D012737:Sex Factors; D012933:Social Identification; D012935:Social Justice; D012945:Social Values; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D023481:Terrorism / Q000523:psychology*; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult