Climate change threats increase modern racism as a function of social dominance orientation and ingroup identification

Abstract

Processing information on the negative consequences of climate change can have unrelated side-effects such as increased outgroup derogation. Previous research suggests differing theoretical explanations for these “spill-over” effects such as buffering existential anxiety. Here, we test and compare two alternative explanations based on social dominance theory and the group-based control model. Across two pre-registered experiments (N = 1031; USA & UK), we examine whether social dominance orientation (SDO) and/or ingroup identification moderate the relationship between experimentally induced collective threats (i.e., climate change and intergroup threat) and subjective threat perceptions, modern racism, and pro-environmental collective action support. In Study 1, SDO and ingroup identification were measured 2 years prior to our experiment as antecedents of threat perceptions. Our results suggest that informing individuals about negative consequences of climate change (e.g., wildfires, floods, resource scarcity, health etc.), leads to higher intergroup threat perceptions and modern racism. These spill-over effects, in turn, are moderated by SDO but not by ingroup identification. In Study 2, we successfully replicate our findings, measuring SDO and ingroup identification directly after the threat manipulation. Moreover, we use a behavioral measure of pro-environmental collective action to assess more direct stimuli-responses. In Study 2, again, we show that SDO moderates the spill-over effects. In contrast, ingroup identification showed only marginally significant spill-over effect moderation and did not increase in response to experimental threat-cues. Notably, we also find that intergroup threat-cues generalize onto higher climate change threat perceptions. No effects on behavioral collective action support were found.

Social and ecological dominance Orientations: Two sides of the same coin? Social and ecological dominance orientations predicting decreased support for climate change mitigation policies.

“…Based on this reasoning and our preliminary results (Uenal et al, 2020b), we propose the following hypotheses: H4: In line with previous research indicating an inverse relationship between SDO and climate change threat perceptions (Uenal et al, 2020a), we expect that individuals high in SDO and EDO will show lower climate change risk and threat perceptions.…”

“…Sidanius & Pratto, 1999), an increasing number of studies indicate an inverse relationship between SDO and pro-environmental attitudes associated with climate change (e.g., bio-diversity loss, climate-change-denial; Jylhä et al, 2020;Uenal et al, 2020a). More specifically, these findings indicate that the more individuals prefer hierarchically organized societal arrangements in which some groups are on top and others on the bottom, the less they show prosocial attitudes benefitting humans as well as non-human animals, or the natural environment (e.g., racism, speciesism, anthropocentrism; Costello & Hodson, 2010;Dhont et al, 2016;Hyers, 2006;Jylhä & Akrami, 2015;Milfont et al, 2013;Stanley & Wilson, 2019).…”

“…In other words, we argue that, in addition to the previously proposed linkage between SDO and attitudes pertaining to the interspecies and human-environment domains via support for hierarchy-legitimizing myths, ecological dominance-due to its more holistic focus on intraspecies, interspecies, and humanenvironment relations-might qualify as an independent psychological predictor of beliefs and behaviors across relational domains. Second, previous research has yet to examine the role of climate change risk and threat perceptions potentially mediating the relationship between social and ecological dominance orientations and pro-environmental attitudes (cf., for SDO see: Uenal et al, 2020a). Third, previous studies thus far have predominantly relied on non-behavioral measures (cf.…”

“…Resembling findings in the intraspecies domain among humans (conspecific: intragroup, intergroup relations), previous studies have shown an inverse relationship between SDO and prosocial attitudes towards non-human animals and the natural environment (e.g., Becker et al, 2019;Costello & Hodson, 2010;Dhont et al, 2016;Everett et al, 2019;Graça, 2020;Hoffarth et al, 2019;Hyers, 2006;Jylhä & Akrami, 2015;Milfont et al, 2013;Milfont & Sibley, 2014). For example, previous research has consistently shown that SDO is associated with lower environmentalism (e.g., Milfont et al, 2018), climate change denial (e.g., Jylhä et al, 2020), and also decreased climate change threat perceptions (Uenal et al, 2020a).…”

“…Previous studies indicate that a sense of feeling threatened by climate change seems pivotal for increasing prosocial and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors aimed at mitigating the consequences of global warming (e.g., van der Linden et al, 2015). However, previous research also shows that individuals differ greatly in their climate change risk and threat perceptions (e.g., Hoffarth & Hodson, 2016;van der Linden, 2015;Uenal et al, 2020a). Therefore, a better understanding of individual difference variables influencing risk and threat perceptions seems important to increase public engagement with and individual responsibility to act on climate change.…”