Terror Management and Attitudes Toward Immigrants

Abstract

Previous terror management theory research has shown that mortality salience (MS; a death reminder) leads to the derogation of those who are perceived to be threats to or violators of one’s cultural worldview. Immigrants may be viewed as such a threat, but not necessarily to all majority group members of the culture. The studies presented here tested the hypothesis that, depending upon the nature of the participants’ worldview, MS would either increase or decrease liking of an immigrant. After being reminded of their mortality or a control topic, French and American college students evaluated an immigrant. To assess differences in worldview, participants completed a measure of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). Consistent across two studies, MS led to more negative evaluations of an immigrant among those high in RWA, but more positive evaluations for those low in RWA. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for understanding the interplay of mortality concerns and RWA in determining attitudes toward immigrants.

Emotional Responses to the Charlie Hebdo Attacks: Addressing the Authoritarianism Puzzle

“…Finally, terror management theory (TMT) suggests that mortality-related threat reinforces extant political beliefs regardless of whether these are liberal or conservative (Castano et al, 2011;Kosloff, Greenberg, & Sheldon, 2010;Weise, Arciszewski, Verlhiac, Pyszczynski, & Greenberg, 2012). TMT argues that humans' awareness of the inevitability of their own death produces anxiety.…”

The dynamics of public opinion following terror attacks: Evidence for a decrease in equalitarian values from Internet Search Volume Indices

“…In fact, as stated earlier, a Terror Management approach would predict that terrorist attacks will lead individuals to reduce death-related anxiety through ideological polarization (e.g. Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Greenberg, 2003;Weise, Arciszewski, Verlhiac, Pyszczynski, & Greenberg, 2012). However, from a motivated political cognition perspective (Jost et al, 2008) we have seen that threat indeed lead to a global, temporary anti-equalitarian shift in public opinion's orientation.…”

Untitled

“…Поэтому напоминание о смерти может оказывать на них разное влияние. Например, недавнее исследование показало, что напоминание о смерти ухудшает отношение к мигрантам у людей с высоким уровнем правого авторитаризма, но улучшает отношение к этой группе у людей с низким уровнем правого авторитаризма (Weise et al, 2012).…”