Attitude To A Terrorist Attack As An Awakening Experience

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

In our difficult times, everything that happens in society is unstable and contradictory. This creates the preconditions for various fears and anxieties, getting out of the experience of which can be very difficult even for a completely stable and strong-willed personality, not to mention people with various neurotic manifestations.

This is how we live, we live, we visit, we have fun, we work, we take care of the family, we learn … and then rr-time! On you! Terrible explosions claimed the lives of people in St. Petersburg. And if someone we know is also in the epicenter of events, we experience horror, grief, sadness, anger, fear, anxiety. Someone may even try on the so-called “survivor's guilt” - the experience of their own guilt for a terrible event, which they could not prevent.

In such conditions, we do not know what surprise tomorrow will bring, and we begin to escape from these experiences into hectic activity, brush them off and deny them, provide ourselves with illusory stability in burdening connections, affairs and relationships, and some in pleasant ones. All this removes us from the true reason in which we are all equal and one - the awareness of the finiteness of our existence and the fear of death.

The themes of the fear of death and the meaning of life, which are especially clearly manifested in extreme situations, have always been very close and interesting to me. From 2009 to 2013, I actively tried to investigate them in line with the analysis of the experiences of victims of hostage-taking, the attitude of adolescents and adults to terrorism, gender aspects of the perception of this phenomenon, its impact on the value-semantic sphere of the individual. I will briefly outline the results obtained. Perhaps they will also seem interesting to you.

Within the framework of theoretical analysis, we with co-authors (T. M. Schegoleva, 2009-2011, V. A. Posashkova, 2012-2013) found a large number of publications on the problem of terrorism. Most of the studies, of course, concerned not psychology, but related disciplines: sociology, political science, military affairs, jurisprudence, etc. However, it says a lot. At least that the problem is extremely acute and urgent, as well as complex and multifaceted. However, some psychological aspects did not escape the attention of researchers.

In the studies of O. V. Budnitsky and V. V. Vityuk, we found data on the psychological causes, origins and forms of manifestation of terrorism. In the materials of D. A. Koretsky and V. V. Luneva - a description of economic, social and cultural determinants and their impact on the personality of a terrorist. N. V. Tarabrin and V. E. Khristenko described in detail the socio-psychological characteristics of terrorists, hostages and specialists providing assistance to the victims. There are even studies of the group dynamics of terrorist organizations, the problems of leadership and intragroup struggle in them (G. Newman, D. V. Olshansky). First of all, we were interested in the processes taking place in the minds of people (victims, relatives, outside observers, the terrorists themselves) associated with the phenomenon of terrorism and its spread.

Studying the specifics of the perception of terrorism by adolescents, we came to the conclusion that they, in comparison with the adult audience, take a more active position in relation to terrorism: they are ready to act preventively in the fight against terrorism, to take more extreme measures. This is understandable, given the age-specific impulsiveness and maximalism, protest, desire to change the existing system of public views.

Also, despite the tendency towards androgynization of society, gender differences were also found in the views. When comparing the answers of the respondents, attention was drawn to the greater scatter of options among the female group, which indicates a more flexible position and less stereotyped perception of terrorism. Male respondents are more categorical in their answers. The role of the state in determining those responsible for terrorist acts is also noteworthy. Men are more inclined to rely on him and, accordingly, place some of the responsibility for the terrorist attacks on the authorities, women - on external circumstances. Differences were also found in stereotypes of behavior in the event of a threat. Male respondents are more active in defense and corresponding emotions (in addition to anxiety and fear, anger and hatred). They also offer more options for behavior in a threat situation. Women talk about reactions of anxiety and fear, or the absence of any feelings at all. They are probably more emotional, therefore, already in the present moment, they show reactions of denial, repression. "Feminine" behaviors are manifested in tendencies to avoid confrontation and attempts to distribute responsibility for a decision.

However, there are general trends in the results of men and women, adults and adolescents. First, both of them noted the political causes of terrorism as the main ones. Likewise, both of them are characterized by feelings of anxiety and fear in the perception of information about terrorism and attempts to defend against them. In my opinion, this speaks of our common human fear - the fear of death. And the results of another study clearly demonstrate what it translates into in an extreme situation, and, oddly enough, they also open ways to overcome it.

In the study of the personality of the victims of hostage-taking, we found that their outlook on life under the influence of the situation undergoes changes: there is a shift towards the basic values of humanity, the level of meaningfulness of life, its value as a process is increasing, the values of family and friendly support play an important role. Directly in the situation, temporary changes manifest themselves: as a result of the infringement of the need for security, the immediate value of life increases, the desire for protection from adverse conditions, and the value of obtaining information about the environment also increases. In other words, there is acute anxiety and a desire for control that are characteristic of moments of traumatic experience and PTSD. The general human value of life as a process is emphasized.

The changes in priorities in the texts of the interviews manifested themselves in the following statements: “We were apathetic and exhausted, but infinitely happy that we managed to stay alive. I think this state will affect my whole future life "," Now we will definitely live a long time and enjoy every day! " we are less worried about little things,”etc. It can be assumed that the situation of an immediate real threat to a person's life has caused an increase in its value, independent of the surrounding circumstances.

The situation in which a person realizes the real proximity of the loss of life, causes a strong desire to preserve it and extends not only to the current situation, but also to the future. Since a terrorist attack is an unexpected cardinal change in the current activity for many people, the processes of comprehending the surrounding reality and oneself are probably launched. A. G. Asmolov, describing the principles of studying semantic formations, called this the principle of artificial interruption of activity. That is, when an obstacle arises in the natural course of events, the real motives of the actions being taken began to be realized. Explanations of the change in attitudes towards life can also be found in foreign authors, for example, in E. Fromm, V. Frankl, A. Adler, I. Yalom and others. Most authors emphasize the impact of changing the usual course of things on the actualization of the value of the present moment and the priority of one's own desires and aspirations. In particular, I. Yalom called the experiences in such situations awakening (leading to the realization of the finiteness of one's own life and its value).

As we can see, the "awakening" effect of a terrorist attack, both for participants in the situation and for outside observers of different ages, is manifested in the awareness of the value of one's own life, an appeal to universal values (acceptance, sympathy, sincere communication) and an increase in the significance of one's own experiences and attitudes towards various life situations. We are aware that the people we have studied may not represent an exhaustive picture of the entire sample, nevertheless, many who survived such an extreme situation radically change their lives. They abandon the pseudo-goals according to A. Adler (goals necessary to compensate for any worries about their own inferiority) and strive for the fullest realization of themselves in our unpredictable and amazing life. And we definitely have a lot to learn from them!