When threat matters: Self-regulation, threat salience, and stereotyping

Abstract

Four experiments examined whether information implying imminent threat to safety would interact with regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997) to affect the utilization of threat-relevant stereotypes. Because information suggesting imminent danger is more relevant to the safety goals of prevention-focused individuals than the advancement goals of promotion-focused individuals,, utilization of threat-relevant stereotypes was expected to increase under such conditions only under prevention focus. Support for this prediction was obtained in four distinct and socially important domains. Using scenarios describing a violent crime committed by an African-American male (Experiment 1) or a petty crime committed by an undocumented immigrant (Experiment 2), prevention-focused individuals made judgments consistent with stereotypes when threat was perceived to be high rather than low. In studies that manipulated the stereotypicality of the target in a terrorism scenario (Experiments 3 & 4), prevention-focused individuals were more likely to endorse scrutinizing a stereotypical compared with a nonstereotypical target when terrorism was described as an increasing problem. Implications for models of stereotyping, self-regulation, and responding to threat are discussed.

Protective Gun Ownership as a Coping Mechanism

“…This emphasis on avoiding harm and the ensuing sense of vigilance is predicted by regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997). People focused on prevention, worried more about preventing bad things from happening than on seeking out good things, are especially concerned with their own safety and security and are likely to exhibit more vigilant behaviors (e.g., Higgins et al, 2001), which leads to a higher sensitivity to threat (e.g., Stroessner, Scholer, Marx, & Weisz, 2015). Gun owners have been shown to be more prevention-focused than non-gun-owners (Conley & Higgins, 2018), and they consistently report feeling more aware of their surroundings when holding their guns (e.g., Kohn, 2004a).…”

CEOs' regulatory focus, slack resources and firms' environmental innovation

“…They will be more creative when addressing problems, and more positive when encountering risks. Furthermore, individuals with promotion focus tend to choose risky strategies as a result of their 'openness' orientation (Stroessner, Scholer, Marx, & Weisz, 2015). In addition, in a new product development team, individuals with promotion focus are more concerned about the risk of losing potential opportunities to make a profit (Spanjol, Tam, Qualls, & Bohlmann, 2011).…”

Alcohol consumption increases bias to shoot at Middle Eastern but not White targets

“…Consistent with prior work, the focus was on bias to shoot and not sensitivity to the presence of a weapon (Correll et al, 2014). There is an ecological relevance to this research given that Middle Eastern biases emerge strongly in contexts related to air travel (Stroessner et al, 2015), and alcohol is readily consumed in moderate volumes at both airports and on aircraft.…”

“…For instance, when angry or fearful, implicit prejudice (Dasgupta, DeSteno, Williams, & Hunsinger, 2009) and negative Middle Eastern stereotypes (Maner et al, 2005) are more pronounced. These negative associations also appear more pronounced when a threat would have real implications, such as during an airport security screening (Stroessner, Scholer, Marx, & Weisz, 2015). More than the threat-appropriate contextual emergence of these associations, threat-relevant responses (e.g., shoot decisions) are exacerbated by priming with Middle Eastern content.…”