"There Must Be a Reason": Osama, Saddam, and Inferred Justification Export

@article{citeulike:4314416, abstract = {One of the most curious aspects of the 2004 presidential election was the strength and resilience of the belief among many Americans that Saddam Hussein was linked to the terrorist attacks of September 11. Scholars have suggested that this belief was the result of a campaign of false information and innuendo from the Bush administration. We call this the information environment explanation. Using a technique of "challenge interviews" on a sample of voters who reported believing in a link between Saddam and 9/11, we propose instead a social psychological explanation for the belief in this link. We identify a number of social psychological mechanisms voters use to maintain false beliefs in the face of disconfirming information, and we show that for a subset of voters the main reason to believe in the link was that it made sense of the administration's decision to go to war against Iraq. We call this inferred justification: for these voters, the fact of the war led to a search for a justification for it, which led them to infer the existence of ties between Iraq and 9/11.}, address = {Northwestern University; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY); Millsaps College}, author = {Prasad, Monica and Perrin, Andrew J. and Bezila, Kieran and Hoffman, Steve G. and Kindleberger, Kate and Manturuk, Kim and Powers, Ashleigh S.}, citeulike-article-id = {4314416}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2009.00280.x}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bpl/soin/2009/00000079/00000002/art00002}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/122260824/ABSTRACT}, comment = {Extensively summarized at the U of Buffalo news site: 'buffalo.edu/news/10364':http://www.buffalo.edu/news/10364 ---=note-separator=--- The uploaded PDF is of a conference draft. It can be downloaded at 'bit.ly/rntna':http://bit.ly/rntna . The document homepage is at AllAcademic.com, here: 'bit.ly/3q6f6':http://bit.ly/3q6f6}, doi = {10.1111/j.1475-682X.2009.00280.x}, issn = {1475-682X}, journal = {Sociological Inquiry}, keywords = {belief, cognitive\_psychology, cognitive\_science, politics, psychology, research}, number = {2}, pages = {142--162}, posted-at = {2009-08-22 13:23:40}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Blackwell Publishing}, title = {"There Must Be a Reason": Osama, Saddam, and Inferred Justification}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2009.00280.x}, volume = {79}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:4314416 L3 - citeulike-article-id:4314416 N2 - One of the most curious aspects of the 2004 presidential election was the strength and resilience of the belief among many Americans that Saddam Hussein was linked to the terrorist attacks of September 11. Scholars have suggested that this belief was the result of a campaign of false information and innuendo from the Bush administration. We call this the information environment explanation. Using a technique of "challenge interviews" on a sample of voters who reported believing in a link between Saddam and 9/11, we propose instead a social psychological explanation for the belief in this link. We identify a number of social psychological mechanisms voters use to maintain false beliefs in the face of disconfirming information, and we show that for a subset of voters the main reason to believe in the link was that it made sense of the administration's decision to go to war against Iraq. We call this inferred justification: for these voters, the fact of the war led to a search for a justification for it, which led them to infer the existence of ties between Iraq and 9/11. IS - 2 JF - Sociological Inquiry SN - 1475-682X AD - Northwestern University; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY); Millsaps College EP - 162 TI - "There Must Be a Reason": Osama, Saddam, and Inferred Justification PB - Blackwell Publishing VL - 79 SP - 142 KW - belief KW - cognitive_psychology KW - cognitive_science KW - politics KW - psychology KW - research N1 - Extensively summarized at the U of Buffalo news site: 'buffalo.edu/news/10364':http://www.buffalo.edu/news/10364 N1 - The uploaded PDF is of a conference draft. It can be downloaded at 'bit.ly/rntna':http://bit.ly/rntna . The document homepage is at AllAcademic.com, here: 'bit.ly/3q6f6':http://bit.ly/3q6f6 AU - Prasad, Monica AU - Perrin, Andrew AU - Bezila, Kieran AU - Hoffman, Steve AU - Kindleberger, Kate AU - Manturuk, Kim AU - Powers, Ashleigh PY - 2009/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2009.00280.x ER -