The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 represent the greatest homeland threat to America since Pearl Harbor. As in times of war, the attacks have prompted increased patriotism and national identification. This small grant for exploratory research will examine Americans' national versus racial/ethnic identifications in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Among the questions to be addressed are the following: How strongly do Americans identify with their national identity? Does national identity correspond with an inclusion of traditionally stigmatized groups (e.g., African Americans) into the common national in-group? If so, is this inclusion observable in unconscious associations of stigmatized groups with the category American? Or, instead, is it merely a conscious extension of patriotism, unlinked to underlying representations of social categories? What factors predict the magnitude of these identity effects? Are these identities durable or will they fade over time?
The research entails a multi-site study of white Americans' national identities and their inclusion of African- versus Arab-Americans relative to the broader category American. To date, empirical examinations of the malleability of identity and inter-group bias have been largely limited to manipulations involving minimal groups of relatively low self-importance to participants. The recent terrorist attacks represent a unique opportunity to explore the impact of extreme threats upon social identities of significant self-relevance. National identities such as these are likely to be stable except in times of relatively severe national threat.
