Terrorism terrifies me. Should I be afraid of people from other places?

It is difficult to live in the world of 2016 and not be afraid of people whose commit acts of terror.  There are currently millions of people fleeing places where ideological wars have made it impossible for them to live in safety.  When I try to imagine what drives the people who commit violent acts of terror, I have to admit that it is very difficult for me.  One explanation is that they come from places that have different values than mine.  Could that be right?

Psychological researchers Fischer and Schwartz (2011) have studied values around the world.  In a single study they combined data from more 42,000 people (26,000 students in 66 countries and 16,000 teachers in 54 countries).  The people came from all inhabited continents and included highly diverse geographic, linguistic, cultural, and religious groups.  All of these people completed the same measure - the Schwartz Values Survey, the measure with ten values organized in a circle (see February 9^th post). Analyzing the data, the researchers found only small country differences in average value priorities.  To ensure that this finding was not because of the measure they used, they also looked at data from the World Values Survey www.worldvaluessurvey.org that used a different measure.  That sample included 84,887 people from 62 countries and regions across six continents. Again, the data indicated that  agreements on values within countries were low for most items. Together these studies suggest that national cultures do not determine our values priorities.  If I want to know who to fear, I cannot judge based on where they come from. 

Reference

Fischer, R., & Schwartz, S. (2011). Whence differences in value priorities? Individual, cultural, or artifactual sources.  Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42(7), 1127-1144. doi:10.1177/0022022110381429