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Terrorist attacks sharpen the binary perception of "Us" vs. "Them"
Milan Jović1, Lovro Šubelj2, Tea Golob3,4
1Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia.
Terrorist attacks redirect public attention, influencing opinion and policy. This study analyzes Wikipedia data to understand shifts in public focus and identity construction following such events.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Computational Social Science
- Psychology
Background:
- Terrorist attacks significantly impact public attention, opinion, and government policies.
- Measuring shifts in public attention beyond media coverage presents methodological challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a method for measuring changes in public attention following terrorist attacks.
- To analyze the content of public discourse to understand societal reactions and identity formation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Wikipedia's extensive article database (5.8 million articles).
- Analyzed a sample of 15 recent terrorist attacks.
- Employed a complex exclusion procedure to identify topics with increased attention.
Main Results:
- Terrorist attacks create a distinct "Us" (target society) versus "Them" (terrorist) boundary.
- Public attention shifts towards understanding the 'other' and self-reflection on societal identity.
- Increased curiosity about the adversary and introspection within the targeted group were observed.
Conclusions:
- Public reactions to terrorist attacks involve identity construction and a drive to understand both the in-group and out-group.
- Systematic analysis of public reactions can inform strategies to mitigate the societal consequences of disruptive events.
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