Attitudinal and Emotional Consequences of Islamist Terrorism. Evidence from the Berlin Attack

Studies about Islamist‐inspired terror attacks in the Western world have identified a recently declining impact on public opinion. What explains this development? In this article, CSS senior researcher Enzo Nussio argues that the wider audiences of terrorist attacks have become desensitized, both in cognition (when citizens increasingly expect an attack) and in emotion (when audiences lose sensitivity to attacks). This study analyzes a survey conducted around the Berlin Christmas market attack in 2016 to German citizens. The author finds that attitudes like trust in government, national identification, and views of Islam remain unchanged, while sadness and anger are heightened in the immediate aftermath of the attack. These findings are relevant as political leaders have justified important policy changes in fields like migration and even war-making with reference to supposed shifts in public opinion after attacks.