Meaning-making and rumour-mongering in the shadow of terrorism: The case of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris

Petra Pelletier,Ewa Drozda-Senkowska

doi:10.5964/jspp.v7i2.1127

Abstract

The January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris shattered French civilians’ sense of security and also their sense of the surrounding world. This quasi-longitudinal study investigates the temporal dynamics of meaning-making and rumour-mongering processes of French civilians (N = 161) in a real-world, post-terrorist context. The present study was conducted via questionnaire at three points in time (i.e. one week, one month and two months) following the January 7, 2015 terrorist attack in Paris. In line with the social stage model of collective coping with disasters (Pennebaker & Harber, 1993), the main results suggest that participants’ coping process of searching for meaning decreased progressively over the two-month period. However, participants’ finding the presence of meaning as an outcome did not differ across time. Moreover, participants’ belief in rumours and official information was stable over the two-month period. Such findings point to the importance of considering the temporal perspective in order to provide a better understanding of laypeople’s symbolic responses to terrorism.

Highlights

The January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris shattered French civilians’ sense of security and their sense of the surrounding world
To address this research gap, the main aim of the current study was to extend the longitudinal approach of the social stage model of collective coping with disasters (Pennebaker & Harber, 1993) to the meaning-making and rumour-mongering processes in a real-world, post-terrorist context
In line with the social stage model of collective coping with disasters (Pennebaker & Harber, 1993), we hypothesized that the extent of meaning-making and rumourmongering processes will reach high values at one week following the terrorist attack, it would diminished by half at one month after the attack, and it would decreased to low values at two months following the attack

Summary

Introduction

The January 7, 2015 Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris shattered French civilians’ sense of security and their sense of the surrounding world. This quasi-longitudinal study investigates the temporal dynamics of meaning-making and rumour-mongering processes of French civilians (N = 161) in a real-world, post-terrorist context. Participants’ belief in rumours and official information was stable over the two-month period Such findings point to the importance of considering the temporal perspective in order to provide a better understanding of laypeople’s symbolic responses to terrorism. The pursuit of terrorists by French Terrorism Task Forces continued in northern suburbs of Paris where the terrorists were killed two days later Such frightening context shattered French laypeople’s sense of physical and symbolic security and their sense of the surrounding world. Terrorism is a complex, real-world threat that influences a range of psychosocial phenomena at the individual and collective levels (e.g., Conejero & Etxebarria, 2007; Dinesen & Jæger, 2013; Fritsche, Jonas, & Kessler, 2011; Huddy & Feldman, 2011; Orehek et al, 2010)

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Conclusion