Glorifying national identification increases schadenfreude about asylum seekers when they are a threat, not entitled to seek asylum, and blamed for their adversity

Too great to act in solidarity: The negative relationship between collective narcissism and solidarity‐based collective action

“…While it had been shown that in‐group identification might thwart the positive effect of perspective taking (Tarrant, Calitri, & Weston, ; Zebel, Doosje, & Spears, ) and lower affective empathy (Selvanathan et al, ), the opposite effects of collective narcissism and secure in‐group identification found in Study 3 suggest that in order to fully understand this relationship a distinction needs to be made between different types of in‐group positivity. Similar conclusions may be derived from recent studies showing that in‐group glorification and in‐group attachment have divergent effects on group‐based sympathy (Berndsen et al, ) or entail different reactions to perspective‐taking instructions (Berndsen et al, ). The unique contribution of the current research lies in demonstrating that the defensive form of in‐group positivity (i.e., collective narcissism) may inhibit group‐based empathy also beyond the national context.…”

“…National glorification (Roccas, Klar, & Liviatan, ), like collective narcissism, instantiates the defensive mode of in‐group positivity (Cichocka, ; Cichocka, Marchlewska, Golec de Zavala, & Olechowski, ). It is negatively related to sympathizing with asylum seekers (Berndsen, Thomas, McGarty, Bliuc, & Hendres, ) and, due to the increased sense of realistic threat, also to non‐compliance with instructions to adopt the perspective of this group (Berndsen, Thomas, & Pedersen, ). Likewise, individual narcissism (e.g., Ang & Yusof, ), which mirrors the properties of collective narcissism (see Cichocka, , for a review) and positively correlates with it (e.g., Cichocka, Marchlewska, & Golec de Zavala, ), is negatively associated with empathy (Fatfouta, Gerlach, Schröder‐Abé, & Merkl, ; Hepper, Hart, Meek, Cisek, & Sedikides, ; Hepper, Hart, & Sedikides, ; Leunissen, Sedikides, & Wildschut, ; Wai & Tiliopoulos, ).…”

Bringing together humanistic and intergroup perspectives to build a model of internalisation of normative social harmdoing

“…Real‐life examples exist where harmful social behaviours become internalised, freely chosen, and displayed without coercion (for an example among Nazis, see Goldhagen, ; for a more benign example of joy at the suffering of a disadvantaged outgroup, see Berndsen et al, ). In a study exploring the normative and motivational drivers of homeless youth (Taylor, Lydon, Bougie, & Johannesen, ), findings confirmed that harmful behaviours such as drug‐taking and drinking were perceived by the homeless children to be more strongly endorsed by their friends.…”

“…This form of social identification contrasts with the notion of group attachment, which represents commitment and inclusion of the ingroup in the self‐concept. These components also serve very different psychological functions with distinct consequences: Glorification, but not attachment, has been associated with increased ingroup defensiveness (Leidner & Castano, ; Roccas et al, ), as well as outgroup derogation and victimisation (Leidner, Castano, Zaiser, & Giner‐Sorolla, ), malicious pleasure at the suffering of an outgroup (Berndsen et al, ), resistance to any attempt to take the perspective of disadvantaged outgroups (Berndsen, Thomas & Pedersen, ), and support in favour of sanctioning the outgroup (Reicher, Haslam, & Rath, ). Hence, this glorifying form of social identification should facilitate the internalisation of harmful norms, also because of the self‐protective motives it tends to elicit.…”

“…In this sense, the valence of group norms is relative. In line with this relativistic focus, the SIA has been used to explain why some participants in genocide, war, and other forms of mass harmdoing are not merely willing but enthusiastic (Haslam & Reicher, 2007;Reicher, Haslam, & Rath, 2008; see also Berndsen, Thomas, McGarty & Bliuc, 2017).…”