Terrorist Events, Emotional Reactions and Political Participation: Evidence from Two Studies Following the January and November 2015 Paris Attacks

Abstract

The impact of terrorist events on attitude formation and change among mass publics has been well established in political research. Still, no individual-level study has examined the impact of terrorist attacks on political participation. This article aims to fill this gap. Drawing on theories of affect, I predict that fear stemming from a terrorist attack will increase motivation to seek out political information, yet will have a negative effect on actual participation. On the contrary, anger will hinder information-seeking but will mobilize participation in political action, even when such action entails an increased physical risk for the participant. I test these hypotheses using data from one panel study that collected one wave before and a second wave after the January 2015 Paris attacks, and from one cross-sectional study carried out soon after the November 2015 attacks.