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Seit 7759 Tagen. crap from the hype machine.

Psychologie

Montag, 2. Juni 2003
Optimaler Alarm
nuke it!
Philip G. Zimbardo* beschäftigt sich mit den Terrorwarnungen an die amerikanische Bevölkerung aus psychologischer Sicht. [via onfocus]

To be optimally effective, such alarms should arouse only a moderate level of motivation - too low doesn't energize action, and too high creates emotional overload and competing, distracting behaviors. The alarms must be based on reliable evidence, and presented clearly by trustworthy sources about specific dangers or threats that may be dealt with by taking some recommended action. If the threat is likely to persist over an extended time period, debriefing after an alarm is essential to correct misinformation, modify faulty recommendations, and to reinforce citizens for heeding the message and to reassure them of the value of their collaborative efforts. Finally, if the threat does not materialize, a reputable authority must provide some explanation of why, and then also lower or remove the threat alert. [...] Terrorism is not about war in any traditional sense of destroying the material resources of an enemy nation and taking over their country. Terrorism is about psychology. It is about taking strategic actions that incite terror and fright in civilian populations. Terrorism is about making ordinary people feel vulnerable, anxious, confused, uncertain and helpless. Ultimately, when terrorism works, citizens feel hopeless and lose trust in their leaders to guarantee the fundamentals of existence -- safety and security. Terrorism is about imagining the monster under our beds or lurking in dark closets -- the faceless, omnipotent enemy who might be the friendly candy man, our neighbor, or some horrible creature of our imagination. It has no one place, time, space or face. The power of terrorism lies precisely in its pervasive ambiguity, in its invasion of our minds. [Quelle: The Political Psychology of Terrorist Alarms [pdf]]

*Zimbardo ist der „Macher“ des bekannten Stanford-Prison-Experiments.