In the years since the 9/11 attacks the incidence of terrorism has been on the rise. At the same time, news media coverage of major terrorist attacks has reached epic proportions, greatly expanding the number of individuals psychologically affected by terrorism. The goal of this dissertation is to better understand how individuals cope with terrorism experienced at a distance. Specifically, this investigation focuses on the impact of stress on integrative complexity (IC; a measure of cognitive processing; Suedfeld, Tetlock, & Streufert, 1992) during and shortly after a major terrorist event. Taken together, the findings from the three studies reported in this dissertation provide several insights into this process. Study 1 replicates and extends results from an earlier study of television newscasters reporting live on 9/11 (Jhangiani & Suedfeld, 2005), in the context of the 2005 London bombings and the medium of radio. In doing so, it provides the first empirical evidence outside of the research laboratory for the curvilinear relationship between stress and IC. Specifically, during the early stages of reports concerning the London bombings, a positive relationship is found between negative emotion and IC. However, once the nature and extent of the event become clearer, increases in negative emotion are related to decreases in IC (the disruptive stress hypothesis). Study 2 replicates this curvilinear relationship in the short-term reactions of two prominent political leaders to 9/11 and the 2005 London bombings. For one of these political leaders, the magnitude of his psychological reaction is moderated by the psychological distance between him and the victims of the attacks. Finally, Study 3 finds that two key personality variables, neuroticism and empathy, play important roles in determining the magnitude of the short-term psychological reactions to 9/11 of more than 250 students from Canada and the United States. This finding is particularly true for those students who were psychologically closer to the victims of the attacks. Implications, strengths and limitations of this research, and possible future directions are discussed.

In the years since the 9/11 attacks the incidence of terrorism has been on the rise. At the same time, news media coverage of major terrorist attacks has reached epic proportions, greatly expanding the number of individuals psychologically affected by terrorism. The goal of this dissertation is to better understand how individuals cope with terrorism experienced at a distance. Specifically, this investigation focuses on the impact of stress on integrative complexity (IC; a measure of cognitive processing; Suedfeld, Tetlock, & Streufert, 1992) during and shortly after a major terrorist event. Taken together, the findings from the three studies reported in this dissertation provide several insights into this process. Study 1 replicates and extends results from an earlier study of television newscasters reporting live on 9/11 (Jhangiani & Suedfeld, 2005), in the context of the 2005 London bombings and the medium of radio. In doing so, it provides the first empirical evidence outside of the research laboratory for the curvilinear relationship between stress and IC. Specifically, during the early stages of reports concerning the London bombings, a positive relationship is found between negative emotion and IC. However, once the nature and extent of the event become clearer, increases in negative emotion are related to decreases in IC (the disruptive stress hypothesis). Study 2 replicates this curvilinear relationship in the short-term reactions of two prominent political leaders to 9/11 and the 2005 London bombings. For one of these political leaders, the magnitude of his psychological reaction is moderated by the psychological distance between him and the victims of the attacks. Finally, Study 3 finds that two key personality variables, neuroticism and empathy, play important roles in determining the magnitude of the short-term psychological reactions to 9/11 of more than 250 students from Canada and the United States. This finding is particularly true for those students who were psychologically closer to the victims of the attacks. Implications, strengths and limitations of this research, and possible future directions are discussed.

In the years since the 9/11 attacks the incidence of terrorism has been on the rise. At the same time, news media coverage of major terrorist attacks has reached epic proportions, greatly expanding the number of individuals psychologically affected by terrorism. The goal of this dissertation is to better understand how individuals cope with terrorism experienced at a distance. Specifically, this investigation focuses on the impact of stress on integrative complexity (IC; a measure of cognitive processing; Suedfeld, Tetlock, & Streufert, 1992) during and shortly after a major terrorist event. Taken together, the findings from the three studies reported in this dissertation provide several insights into this process. Study 1 replicates and extends results from an earlier study of television newscasters reporting live on 9/11 (Jhangiani & Suedfeld, 2005), in the context of the 2005 London bombings and the medium of radio. In doing so, it provides the first empirical evidence outside of the research laboratory for the curvilinear relationship between stress and IC. Specifically, during the early stages of reports concerning the London bombings, a positive relationship is found between negative emotion and IC. However, once the nature and extent of the event become clearer, increases in negative emotion are related to decreases in IC (the disruptive stress hypothesis). Study 2 replicates this curvilinear relationship in the short-term reactions of two prominent political leaders to 9/11 and the 2005 London bombings. For one of these political leaders, the magnitude of his psychological reaction is moderated by the psychological distance between him and the victims of the attacks. Finally, Study 3 finds that two key personality variables, neuroticism and empathy, play important roles in determining the magnitude of the short-term psychological reactions to 9/11 of more than 250 students from Canada and the United States. This finding is particularly true for those students who were psychologically closer to the victims of the attacks. Implications, strengths and limitations of this research, and possible future directions are discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

This study sought to connect two bodies of knowledge--integrative complexity and attribution theory. Integrative complexity is a term that indicates the simplicity vs. complexity of a person's mental frame and perceptual skill. A person who perceives nuance and subtle differences typically scores higher on an integrative complexity measure. Attribution theories are concerned with how individuals perceive causation for various events. The limited research into the linkages between perceived causation for an event and how complexly a person thinks about the domain of that event, coupled with the dearth of attribution research in the natural resource management literature, inspired this research. Florida Keys coral reef users were sent a mail questionnaire between July 2009 and March 2010. Integrative complexity level was determined using an index that was developed for this research. Based on attributional and cognitive complexity literature, it was hypothesized that people who score lower in integrative complexity would exhibit an "external" attribution pattern. Integrative complexity was also proposed to influence: attitude and value extremity; number of perceived problem causes; and use of mediated communication. Finally, it was hypothesized that individuals will assign more blame to other groups than to their own. Six of the study's seven null hypotheses were rejected: 1) a significant relationship was found between integrative complexity level and the number of causes that respondents recorded for the decline of the Florida Keys reef ecosystem, 2) significant differences were observed in attitude extremity according to integrative complexity, 3) significant differences were observed in value orientation according to integrative complexity, 4) significant differences were observed in value extremity according to integrative complexity level, 5) significant differences were observed in mediated communication according to integrative complexity level, and 6) significant differences were observed in blame pattern according to group affiliation. Only one null hypothesis was not rejected: no support was found for a connection between integrative complexity and attribution style. These results indicate support for the integrative complexity index, though work to refine the measure seems in order. Additional recommendations for future research include investigating new approaches to examining the relationship between integrative complexity and attribution style.