Patriotism, Attributions for the 9/11 Attacks, and Support for War: Then and Now

Abstract

College students rated the importance of 10 possible causes of the 9/11 attacks in October 2001 (24 male and 86 female participants) and in October 2005 (53 male and 112 female participants) and completed measures of blind and constructive patriotism. Feelings of threat and perceived responsibility for the attacks and for anti-American hostility were also examined. A principal components analysis of the 10 causes suggested 3 causal categories distinguished by responsibility. The blindly patriotic were less likely to endorse U.S. foreign policy as a cause of the attacks. The 2005 sample was significantly more likely to perceive the United States as partially responsible for the cause of the attacks and for anti-American hostility than was the 2001 sample and they were lower in blind patriotism. A path model indicates that support for the military action in Afghanistan is negatively related to time and positively related to blind patriotism and perceived responsibility of the terrorists.