Terrorism and misperceptions: Evidence from Europe

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

Abstract

How does exposure to Islamist terrorism change perceptions about Muslims and immigrants? We conducted a large-scale survey that measures misperceptions towards minority groups in four European countries. Our results show that terror attacks in the past increased misperceptions of the share of Muslims and immigrants. We also contend that this increase in misperceptions is particularly large and significant for lower-educated respondents and people from regions with a low share of the foreign population. Given that misperceptions are higher on average in regions with a large share of foreigners, terror attacks make misperceptions across different regions converge.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer107408
FachzeitschriftJournal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Jahrgang242
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - Feb. 2026
Peer-Review-StatusJa

Externe IDs

Scopus 105027386090
ORCID /0000-0002-5071-7849/work/210355043

Schlagworte

Schlagwörter

  • Cognitive biases, Attitude formation, Misperceptions, Prejudice, Public opinion, Terror attacks