Abstract
We apply a cultural psychology approach to collective memory of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In particular, we considered whether practices associated with commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks would promote vigilance (prospective affordance hypothesis) and misattribution of responsibility for the original 9/11 attacks (reconstructive memory hypothesis) in an ostensibly unrelated context of intergroup conflict during September 2015. In Study 1, vigilance toward Iran and misattribution of responsibility for the 9/11 attacks to Iranian sources was greater among participants whom we asked about engagement with 9/11 commemoration than among participants whom we asked about engagement with Labor Day observations. Results of Study 2 suggested that patterns of greater vigilance and misattribution as a function of instructions to recall engagement with 9/11 commemoration were more specifically true only of participants who reported actual engagement with hegemonic commemoration practices. From a cultural psychological perspective, 9/11 commemoration is a case of collective memory not merely because it implicates collective-level (versus personal) identities, but instead because it emphasizes mediation of motivation and action via engagement with commemoration practices and other cultural tools.
Highlights
IntroductionThe events were immediately and simultaneously tragic and rife with political repercussions, and each year the event is commemorated
The attacks of September 11, 2001 took the lives of almost 3,000 civilians
One may reasonably wonder whether responses about engagement with 9/11 commemoration practices are more a reflection of relevant individual differences, such as national or political identification, than an indicator of a person’s actual engagement with commemoration practices
Summary
The events were immediately and simultaneously tragic and rife with political repercussions, and each year the event is commemorated. We were interested in assessing how commemorations of 9/11 evolve over time, and to understand how the meaning of the memory is called upon to inform discussion of ongoing political issues. Almost 15 years later, politicians continue to invoke 9/11 in attempts to warn the public about the threat of future terrorist attacks. How does such rhetoric shape commemorations meant to honor the innocent victims of the attacks—could it be that commonplace commemorations among citizens can trigger hawkish foreign policy attitudes in the same way we saw in the immediate aftermath of the attacks?
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