Between the Lines of Us and Them: Identity Threat, Anxious Uncertainty, and Reactive In-Group Affirmation: How Can Antisocial Outcomes be Prevented?

Abstract

Currently more than 60 million people have been driven from their home countries by war and persecution to seek peace and protection elsewhere (UNHCR, 2015 ). Those who survive the often arduous fl ight through deserts and overseas on their way to safety usually fi nd themselves confronted with not only uncertainty about their future, but also mistrust and rejection by local citizens. As a consequence, many withdraw into fringe groups of people who share the same fate. On the other side, citizens in wealthier countries see themselves confronted with rapid and unpredictable changes in their environment and many of them fear they will forfeit their wealth, safety, and traditions by the infl ux of incoming refugees. The growing popularity of radical rightwing parties and movements in many European countries provides painful evidence that a state of such heightened anxiety and uncertainty creates a perfect breeding ground for ethnocentric thinking and antisocial behaviour . However, at the same time, many people feel the urge to donate money and clothes to refugees, and volunteer to help them cope with language and administrative barriers.This chapter is intended to shed light on how people cope with threats that cause them to question their assumptions about themselves or their familiar environment. We focus on people's need for epistemic equilibrium, self-esteem, belonging, and control as underlying identity motives. According to the anxiety-to-approach model of threat and defence , violations of these needs trigger neural processes sensitive to goal confl ict and potential dangers that catalyse an aversive state of anxious uncertainty . As a consequence, people automatically engage in

Conservatives Are Happier than Liberals: the Mediating Role of Perceived Goal Progress and Flow Experience — a Pilot Study

“…Taken together, these frameworks suggest that control restoration process and increased adherence to values of one's own social group in response to threat may explain why conservativeswho cherish values of responsibility, duty and hard workwould be more self-disciplined while pursuing desired goals under contextual threat. In addition, and consistent with the tenets of the anxietyto-approach model (e.g., Lüders et al 2016), defining one's own self on the belonging group level in response to personal anxiety would allow to restore personal control and positive selfperceptions by re-establishing motivational orientation concerned with gain and success, thereby fostering positive feelings and self-worth.…”

Coach me if you can! Dark triad clients, their effect on coaches, and how coaches deal with them

“…Subsequently, as the coach's anxiety can impair the coaching success (De Haan, 2008; Schermuly & Bohnhardt, 2014), we hypothesised building upon H1 and H2 that the higher the client's leadership level, the more dark triad the client is perceived, which leads to more coach's BIS activation and, thus, less coaching success in terms of less coach-perceived client need fulfilment and, thus, less coaching satisfaction; again, we do not propose any direct or total effect of the client's leadership level on the coach's BIS and the coaching success (Hypothesis 3; H3). As BAS activation makes people remain able to act and to find direct and indirect solutions (Lüders et al, 2016), we expect that the coach's BAS activation results in greater less coaching success in terms of greater coach-perceived client need fulfilment and, thus, more coaching satisfaction (Hypothesis 4; H4). Moreover, we we asked the coaches about successful and also unsuccessful strategies qualitatively and quantitatively.…”

“…If there is not only a rewarding stimulus, such as the benefits of a coaching for the coach (e.g. helping client), but also a threatening stimulus, a person's behavioural inhibition system (BIS) sets on: The person is anxiously inhibited due to the two conflicting stimuli (Corr, 2004;Lüders et al, 2016). Thus, a coach confronted with a dark triad client may activate feelings of anxious inhibition, being in conflict with how to react.…”

“…dealing with the client via coaching strategies or terminating the coaching) or indirect solution (e.g. making oneself feel better or more protected) (Jonas et al, 2014;Lüders et al, 2016). However, if this BIS activation stays over a longer time, such as a permanent BISincrease due to a coaching process over several weeks, it can lead to an experience of distress, i.e.…”

The man who used to shrug – one man’s lived experience of TBI

“…We get the sense from the transcript that, probably unintentionally, P feels that he has been, to some degree, marginalised. Luders et al (2016) argue that even in unfavourable situations, highlighting potential benefits, and highlighting different ways of appraising the threat might change the perceived nature of threat and thereby help prevent negative outcomes. In other recent research, Greenaway et al (2014) report that reminding people that they have some control over potentially threatening events eliminated threat effects.…”