Authoritarianism, prejudice and COVID-19: the moderating role of cultural liberalism
Published:
Dec 30, 2021
Keywords:
COVID-19 cultural liberalism ideological level prejudice right-wing authoritarianism threat
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an enormous challenge in medical, economic, and political terms during the past months. The threat of disease, the more or less authoritarian biopolitics of the states, the concept of social distancing, dictate the need to examine the consequences of the pandemic on an ideological level. Making use of data collected before the pandemic (N = 82) as a point of reference, the aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that right-wing authoritarianism (Authoritarianism – Conservatism – Traditionalism; ACT; Duckitt et al., 2010) increases under conditions of threat salience (Adorno et al., 1950; Sales, 1973), while appraising the possible moderating role of cultural liberalism. Furthermore, the hypothesis that threat predicts prejudice (e.g., Florack et al., 2003) was examined. Data were collected during three phases of the pandemic in Greece: the first weeks (N = 85), the lockdown (N = 131) and the lifting of the lockdown measures (N = 126). Results confirmed our hypotheses. An increase was found in Conservatism and Traditionalism, especially among less liberal participants, whereas more liberals appeared to express reduced levels of right-wing authoritarianism during the lifting of lockdown measures compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. A progressive expression of prejudice was also found, with cultural liberalism playing a limited but still moderating role in all three phases. Implications of the pandemic for the ideological level are discussed.
Article Details
- How to Cite
-
Valavani, A., & Prodromitis, G. (2021). Authoritarianism, prejudice and COVID-19: the moderating role of cultural liberalism. Psychology: The Journal of the Hellenic Psychological Society, 26(3), 62–77. https://doi.org/10.12681/psy_hps.28863
- Section
- SPECIAL SECTION
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The journal PSYCHOLOGY adopts a Platinum open-access policy. Submission, processing or publication costs are waived by the Hellenic Psychological Society. Papers published in the journal PSYCHOLOGY are licensed under a 'Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International' licence. The authors reserve the copyright of their work and grant the journal the right of its first publication. Third-party licensees are allowed to use the published paper immediately after publication as they wish, provided they retain the defined by the license copyright formalities, regarding the reference to its author(s) and its initial publication in the journal PSYCHOLOGY. Moreover, any adjusted work should be shared under the same reuse rights, so with the same CC license.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswick, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. Harper & Row.
Agamben, G. (2020). Μόλυνση, επιδημία, κατάσταση εξαίρεσης [Infection, epidemic, state of exception]. Παρέγκλισις [Pareglisis].
Akrami, N., Ekehammar, B., & Araya, T. (2000). Classical and modern racial prejudice: A study of attitudes toward immigrants in Sweden. European Journal of Social Psychology, 30(4), 521-532. https://doi. org/10.1002/1099-0992(200007/08)30:4<521::AID-EJSP5>3.0.CO;2-N
Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Addison-Wesley.
Altemeyer, B. (1981). Right-wing authoritarianism. University of Manitoba Press.
Altemeyer, B. (1996). The authoritarian specter. Harvard University Press.
Burke, B. L., Martens, A., & Faucher, E. H. (2010). Two decades of terror management theory: A meta-analysis of mortality salience research. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(2), 155–195. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309352321
Carlisle, R. P. (Ed.). (2005). Encyclopedia of politics: The left and the right (Vols. 1-2). Sage. https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781412952408
Cohrs, J. C., & Ibler, S. (2009). Authoritarianism, threat, and prejudice: An analysis of mediation and moderation. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 31(1), 81-94. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 01973530802659638
Cottrell, C. A., Richards, D. A. R., & Nichols, A. L. (2010). Predicting policy attitudes from general prejudice versus specific intergroup emotions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(2), 247–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2009.10.008
Doty, R. M., Peterson, B. E., & Winter, D. G. (1991). Threat and authoritarianism in the United States, 1978–1987. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(4), 629–640. https://doi.org/10.1037 /0022-3514.61.4.629
Duckitt, J. (1989). Authoritarianism and group identification: A new view of an old construct. Political Psychology, 10(1), 63–84. https://doi.org/10.2307/3791588
Duckitt, J. (2001). A dual-process cognitive-motivational theory of ideology and prejudice. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology. Vol. 33 (pp. 41–113). Academic Press. https://doi .org/10.1016/S0065-2601(01)80004-6
Duckitt, J. (2013). Introduction to the special section on authoritarianism in societal context: The role of threat. International Journal of Psychology, 48(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.73 8298
Duckitt, J., Bizumic, B., Krauss, S. W., & Heled, E. (2010). A tripartite approach to right-wing authoritarianism: The authoritarianism-conservatism-traditionalism model. Political Psychology, 31(5), 685-715. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2010.00781.x
Duncan, L. A., & Schaller, M. (2009). Prejudicial attitudes toward older adults may be exaggerated when people feel vulnerable to infectious disease: Evidence and implications. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 9(1), 97–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-2415.2009.01188.x
Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. (1998). Attitude structure and function. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (pp. 269–322). McGraw-Hill.
Faulkner, J., Schaller, M., Park, J. H., & Duncan, L. A. (2004). Evolved disease-avoidance mechanisms and contemporary xenophobic attitudes. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 7(4), 333-353. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430204046142
Feldman, S. (2003). Enforcing social conformity: A theory of authoritarianism. Political Psychology, 24(1), 41–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895X.00316
Feldman, S. (2013). Comments on authoritarianism in social context: The role of threat. International Journal of Psychology, 48(1), 55-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.742196
Feldman, S., & Stenner, K. (1997). Perceived threat and authoritarianism. Political Psychology, 18(4), 741–770. https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895X.00077
Fessler, D. M. T., Eng, S. J., & Navarrete, C. D. (2005). Elevated disgust sensitivity in the first trimester of pregnancy: Evidence supporting the compensatory prophylaxis hypothesis. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26(4), 344–351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.12.001
Florack, A., Piontkowski, U., Rohmann, A., Balzer, T., & Perzig, S. (2003). Perceived intergroup threat and attitudes of host community members toward immigrant acculturation. Journal of Social Psychology, 143(5), 633–648. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224540309598468
Foucault, M. (2008). The birth of biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978–1979. Palgrave Macmillan.
Greenberg, J., Pyszczynski, T, & Solomon, S. (1986). The causes and consequences of the need for self-esteem: A terror management theory. In R. F. Baumeister (Ed.), Public self and private self (pp. 189-212). Springer-Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9564-5_10
Greenberg, J., Simon, L., Pyszczynski, T., Solomon, S., & Chatel, D. (1992). Terror management and tolerance: does mortality salience always intensify negative reactions to others who threaten one's worldview? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(2), 212–220. https://doi.org/10.1037// 0022-3514.63.2.212
Hastings, B. M., & Shaffer, B. (2008). Authoritarianism: The role of threat, evolutionary psychology, and the will to power. Theory & Psychology, 18(3), 423–440. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354308089793
Hayes, A. F., & Montoya, A. K. (2017). A tutorial on testing, visualizing, and probing an interaction involving a multicategorical variable in linear regression analysis. Communication Methods and Measures, 11(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458. 2016.1271116
Huang, J. Y., Sedlovskaya, A., Ackerman, J. M., & Bargh, J. A. (2011). Immunizing against prejudice. Psychological Science, 22(12), 1550-1556. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611417261Jacoby, W. G. (1995). The structure of ideological thinking in the American electorate. American Journal of Political Science, 39(2), 314-335. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111615
Jacoby, W. G. (1995). The Structure of Ideological Thinking in the American Electorate. American Journal of Political Science, 39(2), 314–335. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111615
Jost, J. T., Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A. W., & Sulloway, F. J. (2003). Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 129(3), 339-375. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.3.339
Kurzban, R., & Leary, M. R. (2001). Evolutionary origins of stigmatization: The functions of social exclusion. Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 187–208. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.187
Navarrete, C. D., & Fessler, D. M. T. (2006). Disease avoidance and ethnocentrism: the effects of disease vulnerability and disgust sensitivity on intergroup attitudes. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27(4), 270–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.12.001
Neuberg, S. L., Kenrick, D. T., & Schaller, M. (2011). Human threat management systems: Self-protection and disease avoidance. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35(4), 1042–1051. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.neubiorev.2010.08.011
Neuberg, S. L., & Schaller, M. (2016). An evolutionary threat-management approach to prejudices. Current Opinion in Psychology, 7, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.06.004
Pyszczynski, T., Abdollahi, A., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Cohen, F., & Weise, D. (2006). Mortality salience, martyrdom, and military might: The great Satan versus the axis of evil. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(4), 525–537. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205282157
Rokeach, M. (1960). The open and closed mind: Investigations into the nature of belief systems and ersonality systems. Basic Books.
Sales, S. M. (1973). Threat as a factor in authoritarianism: An analysis of archival data. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28(1), 44–57. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0035588
Schaller, M. (2011). The behavioural immune system and the psychology of human sociality. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences, 366(1583), 3418–3426. https://doi.org/ 10.1098/rstb.2011.0029
Schaller, M., & Duncan, L. A. (2007). The behavioral immune system: Its evolution and social psychological implications. In J. P. Forgas, M. G. Haselton, & W. von Hippel (Eds.), Evolution and the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and social cognition (pp. 293–307). Psychology Press.
Schaller, M., & Neuberg, S. L. (2008). Intergroup prejudices and intergroup conflicts. In C. Crawford & D. L. Krebs (Eds.), Foundations of evolutionary psychology (pp. 399-412). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Schaller, M., & Neuberg, S. L. (2012). Danger, disease, and the nature of prejudice(s). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 1-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-394281-4.00001-5
Schaller, M., & Park, J. H. (2011). The behavioral immune system (and why it matters). Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(2), 99-103. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721411402596
Sibley, C.G., Wilson, M., & Duckitt, J. (2007). Effects of dangerous and competitive worldviews on right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation over a five-month period. Political Psychology, 28(3), 357–371. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2007.00572.x
Terrizzi, J. A., Jr., Shook, N. J., & McDaniel, M. A. (2013). The behavioral immune system and social conservatism: A meta-analysis. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34(2), 99–108. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.10.003
Tybur, J. M., Inbar, Y., Aarøe, L., Barclay, P., Barlow, F. K., De Barra, M., Becker, D. V., Borovoi, L., Choi, I., Choi, J. A., Consedine, N. S., Conway, A., Conway, J. R., Conway, P., Adoric, V. C., Demirci, D. E., Fernández, A. M., Ferreira, D. C. S., Ishii, K. … Žezelj, I. (2016). Parasite stress and pathogen avoidance relate to distinct dimensions of political ideology across 30 nations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(44), 12408-12413. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1607398113
Weise, D. R., Arciszewski, T., Verlhiac, J.-F., Pyszczynski, T., & Greenberg, J. (2012). Terror management and attitudes toward immigrants: Differential effects of mortality salience for low and high right-wing authoritarians. European Psychologist, 17(1), 63–72. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000056
Zakrzewska, M., Olofsson, J. K., Lindholm, T., Blomkvist, A., & Liuzza, M. T. (2019). Body odor disgust sensitivity is associated with prejudice towards a fictive group of immigrants. Physiology & Behavior, 201, 221-227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.01.006
Żuk, P., & Żuk, P. (2020). Right-wing populism in Poland and anti-vaccine myths on YouTube: Political and cultural threats to public health. Global Public Health, 15(6), 790-804. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 17441692.2020.1718733
