International The "Charlie-Hebdo" Effect: Repercussions of the January 2015 Terrorist Attacks in France on Prejudice toward Immigrants and North-Africans, Social Dominance Orientation, and Attachment to the Principle of Laicite

Between January 7 and 9, 2015, a succession of terrorist attacks in France shocked the whole world. Public reaction was strong, as was demonstrated by the huge turnout for the "marches for the Republic" held on January 10 and 11. The present paper is based on data collected from 162 participants just before the January 2015 attacks and during two successive two-week periods immediately after the attacks. Our objective was to determine whether the attacks led to an increase, even temporarily, in prejudice, social dominance orientation (SDO), and attachment to the principle of laicite(1). Results showed a short-lived increase in prejudice against immigrants and North-Africans during the two weeks following the attacks, but no increase in SDO or attachment to the principle of laicite. Contrary to our expectations, we found a substantial decrease in attachment to the principle of laicite during the third data collection period (between two and four weeks after the attacks) compared with the first two periods. We discuss these results in the light of the social psychology literature on the effects of terrorist attacks on the perceptions and attitudes of citizens of the countries targeted.