Positivism and Patriotic Militancy: The Influence of Covert Ideologies on Students' Reactions to September 11, 2001

This study examined the relationship between personal epistemology, as measured by the Attitudes about Reality Scale, attitudes about the September 11 World Trade Center disaster, and patterns of blame assigned to various individuals and circumstances associated with the crisis. Data were collected within 1 month of the disaster and 6 months later from undergraduate students at a university from which people could see the destruction of the World Trade Center and from another university 200 miles from the site. A significant relationship was found between positivist attitudes about reality and support for militant government policies at both universities and at both time periods. This relationship was not different for the two universities and was significantly stronger at both institutions 6 months after the attacks. Students near the disaster site were more supportive of a strong response. However, differences between the two universities in the way that demographic and other markers related to covert and overt attitudes limit our ability to define this as an effect of proximity to terrorism. Results are discussed in terms of a deep connection between general epistemological predispositions, cognitive competence/style, and specific sociopolitical viewpoints.