Effects of viewing 9/11 footage on distress and <scp>I</scp>slamophobia: a temporally expanded approach

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>We investigated whether viewing September 11 footage affected peoples’ perceived distress spanning past, present, and anticipated future. Participants (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 174) were randomly assigned to a 9/11, fear, or neutral condition and completed measures of temporal perceived distress, distress of future terrorism, Islamophobia, and restriction of civil liberties attitudes. Participants in the neutral and fear conditions perceived their 9/11‐related distress as declining over time. Those in the 9/11 condition perceived their distress as higher at present and declining from present (vs. past ratings). Those viewing 9/11 (vs. neutral or fear) footage reported greater future terrorism distress, more prejudice, and greater restriction of civil liberties. These differences were explained by higher 9/11‐related distress ratings for past 5 years, present, and future.</jats:p>