Helping Students in Introductory Psychology Process Terrorist Attacks

Abstract

Terrorist attacks, such as the one that occurred on September 11, 2001 in the US, create an opportunity for psychology faculty to explore with students both the psychological aftermaths of a disaster and the psychological factors associated with terrorism. This article briefly reviews the literature on previous campus response to war and tragedy and then presents ways to integrate illustrations from the psychology of terrorism and victim response with the standard introductory psychology curriculum, as well as some advanced courses, as a method of helping students (and educators) to progressively process a terrorist attack. In practice, we took topics found in introductory psychology textbooks and developed ways to embed discussion, teach psychological principles, understand terrorism and promote healing while moving forward with and maintaining the integrity of the curriculum.