SECTION 2

PSYCHOLOGY OF TERRORISM WRITING SAMPLE

Cassandra Acua Final Exam: Terrorism & Homeland Security CJS-492D-90-113 Sp Top: Terr & Homeland Sec Thursday, June 28, 2012 Dr. M. Fischer

1. Describe a program designed to help communities after a terrorist attack that incorporates crisis intervention, community education, which has an ecological emphasis, empowerment and group approaches. Community crisis intervention must address the multidimensional needs and inherent characteristics of the community it serves. There is no, one program that serves every situation (Fischer, 2012). According to a 2010 publication by the Department of Homeland Security on violent extremism, effective and comprehensive counter measures against violent extremism, such as the 9/11 attacks must address the needs of all citizens and mitigate risk of further victimization. In order to do this subsequent responses to attacks should focus on the cohesive mobilization of community resources. In situ, the model of intervention should follow an all hazards American Resiliency Assessment (ARA) framework to assess, address, and act on challenges, issues, and problems encountered in eld. One of the most important lessons learned from the 9/11 attacks outline the need for careful considerations are needed in the standardization of policies and protocols during Mass Crisis Incident Response. In order to avoid contentions and conicts among various agencies clear protocols must establish and promote adherence to clear jurisdictional roles and boundaries of services, to avoid costly overlapping of services without further exacerbating trauma in victims, families, and rst responders. Accordingly, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, has established NIMS (National Incident Management System) to provide educational programs and training materials to educate the community on the continuous cycle of preparation, organization, evaluation, and adaptation mitigation and recovery require.

2. Explain the following quote: The primary goal of terrorism is to disrupt society by provoking intense fear and shattering all sense of personal and community safety. The target is an entire nation, not only those who have been killed, injured or directly affected" (Hall et al., cited in Bonger, 2007,. p. 10). The primary goal of terrorist is to maximize the level of physical and psychological casualty by utilizing the very symbols of a society to drive divisions, create distrust, and causing a prolonged state of inrmity and insecurity. The act of terror is a strategic tactic that identies and exploits vulnerable populations and publicizes the ssures in a society. Further more, these acts present manifold challenges to the authority and capacity of leaders. Trust is ruptured, and social institutions are publicly discredited, citizens can interpret these cues in several, often unpredictable ways. Compounding these challenges, civilians often struggle recover and reintegrate. As such, prolonged dependency on social programs drain social support systems in prolonged paradigm of asymmetrical attrition warfare. In sum, terrorism utilizes psychology to incite and provoke irrational responses and erratic behaviors from all levels of society. Citizens confront challenges in responding adequately to mitigate risks without further traumatize citizens. 3. Why is a nonpathologizing case-management manner that strengthens families and fosters resilience more effective than a medical model, that is, one that assumes that the person is suffering from a diagnosed illness and needs a professional to diagnose and treat it. Programs that promote communal cooperation are one of the most empowering and potent forms of terrorism mitigation (Acua, 2012) The formulation of assistance should focus on a pro-social framework. Which diffuses hyper arousal and limits the exposure of traumatic cues, such as the prolonged exposure explicit images of victims and survivors visceral reactions. Mental health providers must assuage insecurities and isolate risks. Communal engagement must emphasize on models cohesion, communication, and comprehensiveness that address the needs of culturally diverse populations. Communicative and cultural competencies must match the needs of clients, in order to empathically and effectively

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engage individuals and the community. Responses should also reinforce the communitys strengths by taking advantage of its individual members abilities in assisting others within a familiar environment. Cooperation and support should be attained from all levels of federal, state, and local community partnerships and programs to imbue the community with security from within. 4. How can terrorist alerts lead to either habituation or a generalized heightened state of arousal? 5. Terror alerts serve to advise citizens of the likelihood of threat. The misuse or exploitation of these systems by terrorist or politicians can adversely affect citizens health in two major ways. Theories base this on principals of operant conditioning in which behaviors are cued by symbols. As such terror alerts stimulate the response of citizens. Habituation can be understood as the prolonged exposure to stimuli. Citizens who become accustomed to stable alerts can experience a false sense of security. Making citizens more vulnerable to psychological impact in the likelihood of future attacks. Conversely, changes to alerts can prompt a heightening stress levels and increase the likelihood of panic responses. Therefore increasing fear responses, perceive threats to security have been shown to increase the likelihood of anti-social behaviors. Such as the riots ensued shortly after videotapes of Rodney King beatings aired. Thus, in order to provide effective advisory communications (Brandon & Silke, 2007) alerts must provide comprehensive, credible, and concise information. Subsequently, a subsequent comprehensive advisory statement and community debrief should address any changes in alert status and inform the community as to how to proceed. 5.How did the terrorists maximize the terror they created through the mass media on 9/11? Terrorist organizations and the media created a prolonged environment of publicity and trauma. Media coverage often provided myopic and sensationalized depictions of hyper-emotional displays to prompt audiences into stupefaction and stunned helplessness. Repetitive clips and sound bytes of the attacks were embedded into a seemingly incessant stream of gruesome images. News broadcasts in a mad dash to break the latest news provided uncorroborated stories and conicting information. This level of misinformation served to confuse, disorganize, rescue and recovery efforts by creating an environment of confusion and chaos. Terrorist groups sought to use this publicity in the soliciting sympathizers and enhance recruitment to their cause. Because of the media publicity and misinformation, rst responders and law enforcement ofcers confronted additional stresses in maintaining order, in an environment of mounting distrust. In sum, terrorist used these images to strike at the fears and insecurities of citizens to create distrust in government.

References Brandon, S. E., & Silke, A. P. (2007). Near-and long-term psychological effects of exposure to terrorist attacks. Psychology of terrorism, 492. Fischer, M. (2012). Interview.

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