An Individual–Group Belief Framework: Predicting Life Satisfaction, Group Identification, and Support for the ‘‘War on Terror’’

A sample of U.S. citizens (N1⁄4 281) completed the Individual–Group Belief Inventory approximately 6 months after the 9=11 terrorist attacks. The survey measured beliefs about vulnerability, injustice, distrust, superiority, and helplessness in three interrelated spheres: personal beliefs about their American ingroup, personal perceptions of the ingroup’s collective worldviews, and personal beliefs about their personal worlds. As predicted, individual differences in the strength of these beliefs were related to satisfaction with current circumstances, strength of group identification, and support for the post-9=11 ‘‘war on terror.’’ Personal beliefs about the ingroup tended to be most strongly correlated with the criterion measures, but the three belief spheres together offered greater explanatory power than any single sphere alone.