Limitations and Future Directions The Charlie Hebdo Terror Attack in Paris: Follow-up of French Citizens’ Terrorist Threat Perception and Its Consequences Petra Pelletier and Ewa Drozda-Senkowska (Paris Descartes University, France) Abstract Method Terrorist Threat Perception Mean Levels of Personal and Collective Terrorist Threat Perception Terrorist threat perception was situated at the collective level, t(151) = 13.80, p < .001, rather than at the personal level, t(151) = - 4.15, p < .001 Terrorist threat perception has not decreased over time neither at the personal level, F(2, 149) = 1.52, p = .223, nor at the collective level, F(2, 149) = .074, p = .929 Overall Frequency of Behavioral Changes Terrorist threat perception predicted avoidance of certain areas in Paris due to the fear of terrorist attack, R² = .034, F (1, 150) = 5.31, p = .023 Social Sharing of Emotions Talking F(2, 157) = 32.97, p < .001 and Hearing F(2, 157) = 53.64, p < .001, across Time Mean Ratings for Scales Assessing the Extent of Talking and Hearing about the Terrorist Attack Socioemotional Climate Mean Levels of Positive and Negative Socioemotional Climate Positive socioemotional climate of their country have evolved over time, F(2, 142) = 2.99, p = .054, contrary to the negative socioemotional climate of their country, F(2, 143) = 1.53, p = .221 Participants’ overall positive affect state (β = .29, p < .001) predicted the positive socioemotional climate scores, R² = .082, F (1, 141) = 12.54, p < .001 and participants’ overall negative affect state (β = -.29, p < .001) predicted the negative socioemotional climate scores, R² = .085, F (1, 142) = 13.27, p < .001. The social sharing of emotions was a non-significant mediator between the personal affect states and the socioemotional climate The present research investigates French citizens’ responses to Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack of 7th January 2015 in Paris. Researchers examined terrorist threat perception, behavioral changes, social sharing of emotions and perceived socioemotional climate using the social stage model of collective coping with disasters (Pennebaker & Harber, 1993). This longitudinal quasi-experimental study was conducted by a questionnaire at three point of time (i.e., one week, one month and two months) following the attack. The results show that the extent of social sharing and the positive socioemotional climate decreased from the initial emergency stage to the subsequent adaptation stage. Such findings point to the importance of taking temporality into account to provide better understanding of lay people’s responses to terrorism. Participants Participants were French citizens (N = 161) recruited through probability sampling at the Republic square in Paris Participants age ranged from 18 to 74 years (M = 35.79, SD = 15.46) Participants completed a multi-part paper-and-pencil version of the questionnaire Study was conducted at three points of time (i.e., one week, one month and two month) following the terrorist attack Measures Word-Association Task Terrorist Threat Perception Assessment (personal vs. collective) Behavioral Changes Assessment (changes in participants’ daily life) Personal Emotions Assessment (PANAS) Social Sharing of Emotions Assessment (Rimé, Paez, Basabe, & Martinez, 2010) Socioemotional Climate Assessment (positive vs negative) Introduction France has suffered a wave of terrorist attacks in 2015 Terrorism is a form of « psychological warfare » based primarily on the public perception of threat, having two distinct components: personal and collective (Huddy, Feldman, Capelos, & Provost, 2002) Increased terrorist threat perception has been related to specific avoidance behavioral reactions (e.g., Goodwin, Willson, Gaines, 2005) and strong emotional reactions (e.g., Conejero & Etxebarria, 2007) People tend to share their emotions and their understanding of the event by talking with others (Rimé, 2005) which allow spreading of emotional communications within the social networks Temporal dynamics of social sharing processes was formalized within the social stage model of collective coping with disasters (Pennebaker & Harber, 1993) The interpersonal dynamics of social sharing of emotions contribute to the construction of the socioemotional climate within a society (Paez, Basabe, Ubillos, & Gonzalez-Castro, 2007) Discussion Temporal perspective of lay people’s responses to terrorism Replication of post-terrorist social sharing dynamics repported in Madrid (Rimé et al., 2010) Extention of the social stage model of collective coping with disasters to the complementary variables Linking the micro- and macro- social processes Results related to the specific cultural context linked to the strong symbolic value of Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack (French democratic values) Results Word-Association Task The frequency distribution of participants’ responses related to Democratic Values (i.e., Freedom of Speech, Solidarity, Secularism) decreased from the initial emergency stage to the subsequent adaptation stage two months later, χ² (4, N = 93) = 9.69, p < .05 The overall frequency pattern of participants'’ responses was similar over time, χ² (22, N = 571) = 29.62, p = .128 Limitations and Future Directions Limitations related to the small sample size and samplig procedure Further investigation of mediators between the micro- and macro- social processes needed Improving the comprehension of the interpersonal and societal consequences of terrorist attacks Purpose The main purpose of the present study is to test and to extend the social stage model of collective coping with disasters in a French context to improve the comprehension of lay people’s responses to terrorist attacks and their temporal evolution