Predicting Fear of Terrorism Following the Indirect Exposure to October 7th Hamas Attack Against Israel Through Psychological Distance: The Mediating Role of Self-Labeling

This study examines a model predicting fear of terrorism following the October 7th attack on Israel. Grounded in construal-level theory (CLT), which highlights the significance of psychological distance (PD), this study explores the relationship between PD and fear of terrorism. It also investigates the mediating roles of negative self-labels (NSL; e.g., victim, indirect victim, harmed, spared) and positive self-labels (PSL; e.g., survivor, fighter, winner, overcomer). The online survey included Israeli civilians (N = 844) aged 18 to 90 (M = 40.34, SD = 14.87), with a nearly even gender distribution (48.9% female, 51.1% male). The majority (88.3%) were not directly exposed to the October 7th attack. The participants answered questions regarding their demographic background, perceived distance/closeness to the victims of the October 7th attack, NSL and PSL in the context of the attack, and fear of terrorism. The results indicated that our model for predicting fear of terrorism explained 30% in the variance of fear of terrorism, with NSL emerging as the most substantial contributor. Furthermore, both NSL and PSL mediated the relationship between PD and the fear of terrorism. Regarding the theoretical contribution, this study expands the application of the CLT by revealing that PD regarding the direct victims of a terrorist act can explain fear of terrorism in a population whose exposure to the attack was indirect. Furthermore, the discussion explores potential interpretations that may explain why the NSL more strongly contributed to predicting fear of terrorism than PSL and suggests that PSL plays a protective role since it reduces fears of terrorism.