Risk Perception, Threat, and Anxiety Decay in Lone-Wolf Terrorist Events in the US

This study, Risk Perception, Threat, and Anxiety Decay in Lone-Wolf Terrorist Events in the US, was conducted by researchers at the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy and funded by the National Science Foundation, Grant Award 1624296. The study consisted of a two wave panel survey designed to provide increased knowledge about the US public's understanding, attitudes, risk perceptions, and policy preferences concerning lone-wolf terrorist attacks, allow comparison of such characteristics to those the public holds towards organized terrorist attacks, track decay or amplification of risk perceptions over the duration of the study, and test the theory of recollection bias. The first wave of the panel (May 2016) measured multiple characteristics associated with perceptions of various types of terrorism attacks, especially lone-wolf attacks. The second wave measured the same characteristics about six months later (November 2016), enabling the researchers to assess changes over time and in relation to additional violent incidents that occurred between the first and second wave. Project Team: Kent E. Portney - PI; Jeryl Mumpower and Arnold Vedlitz - Co-PIs; Xinsheng Liu, Bryce Hannibal, and Carol Goldsmith - Senior Investigators