In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror

by Thomas A. Pyszczynski, Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg

This unique book explores the emotions of despair, fear, and anger that arose after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the Autumn of 2001. The authors analyze reactions to the attacks through the lens of terror management theory, a psychological model that explains why humans react the way they do to the threat of death. The theory provides ways to understand and reduce terrorism’s effect and possibly find resolutions to conflicts involving terrorism. The authors focus primarily on the reaction in the United States to the 9/11 attack, but their model is applicable to all instances of terrorism, and they expand their discussion to include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This fascinating book has practical implications and will be an irreplaceable resource for mental health practitioners, researchers, and anyone concerned with the causes and effects of terrorism.

Genres: Psychology, Politics, Nonfiction

264 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 2002

Reviews

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best, most accessible introduction to experimental existential psychology.

[Annas Jiwa Pratama · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exemplary book that answers the question "How do you condense over two decades worth of research and theory building ?" by showing how it's done.

For psychologists I guess the most profound lesson one can get is that any scientist worth their salt should never confine themselves to textbooks and journals of their own academia. Terror Management Theory itself is heavily influenced by existentialism and the works of cultural anthrop., Ernest Becker. The world is far too complex to be understood by any one science.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a social psychologist, I will always be biased towards books by social psychologists, but I would have to say that this book does an exceptional job at covering a specific psychological theory and applying it to the problems of the world we live in. Of course my particular opinions differ from the authors considerably in some areas, but I still think this text is an important thought experiment for everyone to take. Just the sheer act of trying to see the world populated by individuals, no matter what the background, looking for meaning and purpose in life, would go a long way in teaching the important of tolerance and understanding of others. It somewhat surprisingly goes into more depth into politics than I would have guessed, but counters the speculative parts with a significant amount of space on the empirical support for the theory. I’ll be using it as a text in my upcoming class so I may revise this review once I see how my students react to it.

[Geordon VanTassle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just got this in the post for my next set of classes. This is for "Psychology of Disaster" and should make for some enlightening reading. I'll be interested to see how this relates back to what I learned in my AA Psychology program.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terror Management Theory, the book.