Death Reminders Increase Agreement With Extremist Views but Not Violent Extremist Action in Indonesian Muslims

Abstract

Using Terror Management Theory, we examined whether mortality salience (death-related cognitions) increased support for religious and political extremism and/or violent extremism in young Indonesian Muslims. Muslim and non-Muslim Indonesian students studying in Australia were randomised to a Mortality Salience (MS) or control condition. Following completion of a distractor task, participants were asked to rate their agreement/disagreement with another Indonesian Muslim student's (bogus) statements towards extremist views and violent extremist actions. After controlling for alienation, Muslim students in the MS condition reported significantly higher levels of support for extremist views than did non-Muslims. There was no significant effect of MS on violent extremist action in either Muslims or non-Muslims. The results suggest that reminders of death (MS) may lead young Muslims to be more supportive of politically and religiously extreme views, but not violent action. Our findings lend partial support to previous research in Iranian Muslim students; however, further research is needed to establish factors that can result in increased support for violent extremism.

Does the Awareness of Mortality Shape People's Openness to Violence and Conflict? An Examination of Terror Management Theory

“…The results are counter to the widespread view that MS can trigger radicalization to violent extremism held by researchers of the psychology of terrorism and conflict (see, for example, Abdollahi et al, ; Ali et al, ; Kruglanski et al, ; McBride, ; Motyl and Pyszczynski, ; Pyszczynski et al, ; Silke, ; Vail et al, ). Our findings are consistent with recent work showing that MS increases support for more polarized political views but not for violent extremism among Indonesian Muslims (Iqbal, O'Brien, Bliuc, & Vergani, ).…”

The Influence of Existential Threat and Tolerance Salience on Anti‐Islamic Attitudes in American Politics

“…The present research also converges with a growing body of research demonstrating that the awareness of death can motivate hostile worldview defenses (Hayes, Schimel, Arndt, & Faucher, 2010;Routledge & Vess, 2019). Previous research has found that MS motivates expressions of positive support for fellow believers of one's worldview and negative attitudes toward those that adhere to alternative/challenging worldviews (Greenberg et al, 1990;Iqbal, O'Brien, Bliuc, & Vergani, 2016), even fueling hostilities-including aggression and support for violence-against people who hold different beliefs and values (H. A. McGregor et al, 1998).…”

“…The present research also converges with a growing body of research demonstrating that the awareness of death can motivate hostile worldview defenses (Hayes, Schimel, Arndt, & Faucher, ; Routledge & Vess, ). Previous research has found that MS motivates expressions of positive support for fellow believers of one’s worldview and negative attitudes toward those that adhere to alternative/challenging worldviews (Greenberg et al, ; Iqbal, O’Brien, Bliuc, & Vergani, ), even fueling hostilities—including aggression and support for violence—against people who hold different beliefs and values (H. A. McGregor et al, ). The terror‐managing effects of such worldview defense has been observed among Canadian Christians reading about the killing of Muslims in a plane crash (Hayes et al, ), Americans expressing anti‐Arab and anti‐immigrant prejudice (Motyl et al, ), and Canadians increasing their desire to restrict the civil rights of people with anti‐West/pro‐Islamic beliefs (Norenzayan et al, ).…”

Apakah saliensi mortalitas berperan dalam menjelaskan prasangka terhadap pasangan antarbudaya? Sebuah studi eksperimental

“…Hasil penelitian ini juga menunjukkan adanya reaksi defensif setelah paparan SM pada masyarakat Indonesia. Dengan kata lain, studi ini mendukung studi-studi terdahulu yang menunjukkan kemunculan reaksi defensif pasca paparan SM pada masyarakat Asia (Heine dkk., 2002;Iqbal, O'Brien, Bliuc, & Vergani, 2016;Tam dkk., 2007). Implikasinya, studi ini mendukung generalisasi dari TMT di masyarakat Indonesia dan menunjukkan bahwa pengaruh SM tidak hanya berlaku pada masyarakat barat saja.…”