Suicide Terrorism: Exploring Western Perceptions of Terms, Context, and Causes

In the scientific literature and popular media, the five terms suicide bomber, suicide terrorist, Islamic martyr, martyr or volunteer are often used interchangeably. This study investigates the mental representations related to these five different terms when the terms are presented individually and when they are embedded in the context of two scenarios. Participants were 129 undergraduate students. It was hypothesized that: (1) the positive and negative valence of associations to the five target words would differ; (2) the perception of a suicide terrorist would be influenced by target word used and by the context of the act, such as the kind of victims; (3) the reasons given for why a person becomes a suicide bomber would reflect more often those discussed in scientific research and less often those commonly presented in the media; and (4) the reasons given would differ between target words and context. Results mostly confirmed the hypotheses. Although context information seems to outweigh the connotations of the individual terms, results caution researchers and media on the need to reflect on possible consequences resulting from the use of specific terms.