Abadi David, Willem van Prooijen Jan, Krouwel André, Fischer Agneta H
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Cogn Emot. 2024 Dec;38(8):1246-1260. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2024.2360584. Epub 2024 Jun 11.
Previous research has found that populist attitudes and conspiracy mentality - here summarised as anti-establishment attitudes - increase when people feel threatened. Two types of intergroup threat have been distinguished, namely realistic threats (pertaining to socio-economic resources, climate, or health), and symbolic threats (pertaining to cultural values). However, there is no agreement on which types of threat and corresponding appraisals would be most important in predicting anti-establishment attitudes. We hypothesise that it is the threat itself, irrespective of its cause, that predicts anti-establishment attitudes. In the current paper, we conducted new (multilevel) regression analyses on previously collected data from four high-powered studies with multiple time points (Study 1) or collected in multiple nations (Studies 2-4). All studies included a populist attitudes scale, a conspiracy mentality scale, and different types of threat and emotion measures, reflecting both realistic and symbolic threats. Across studies, both realistic and symbolic threats positively predicted anti-establishment attitudes. The results support an emotional appraisal approach to anti-establishment attitudes, which highlights the importance of anxiety and feeling threatened regardless of what type of event elicits the threat.
先前的研究发现，当人们感到受到威胁时，民粹主义态度和阴谋心态（在此概括为反建制态度）会增加。已区分出两种类型的群体间威胁，即现实威胁（与社会经济资源、气候或健康有关）和象征威胁（与文化价值观有关）。然而，对于哪种类型的威胁及相应的评估在预测反建制态度方面最为重要，尚无定论。我们假设，预测反建制态度的是威胁本身，而不论其原因如何。在本文中，我们对先前从四项有多个时间点的高影响力研究（研究1）或在多个国家收集的数据（研究2 - 4）进行了新的（多层次）回归分析。所有研究都包括一个民粹主义态度量表、一个阴谋心态量表以及不同类型的威胁和情绪测量指标，反映了现实威胁和象征威胁。在各项研究中，现实威胁和象征威胁均正向预测了反建制态度。结果支持了一种针对反建制态度的情绪评估方法，该方法强调焦虑和感到受到威胁的重要性，而不论引发威胁的是何种类型的事件。
