Concern with COVID-19 pandemic threat and attitudes towards immigrants: the mediating effect of the desire for tightness

Mula, Silvana and Di Santo, Daniela and Resta, Elena and Bakhtiari, Farin and Baldner, Conrad and Molinario, Erica and Pierro, Antonio and Gelfand, Michele J. and Denison, Emmy and Agostini, Maximilian and Bélanger, Jocelyn J. and Gützkow, Ben and Kreienkamp, Jannis and Abakoumkin, Georgios and Abdul Khaiyom, Jamilah Hanum and Ahmedi, Vjollca and Akkas, Handan and Almenara, Carlos A. and Atta, Mohsin and Bağcı, Çiğdem and Basel, Sima and Kida, Edona Berisha and Bernardo, Allan B.I. and Buttrick, Nicholas R. and Chobthamkit, Phatthanakit and Choi, Hoon Seok and Cristea, Mioara and Csaba, Sára and Damnjanovic, Kaja and Danyliuk, Ivan and Dash, Arobindu and Douglas, Karen M. and Enea, Violeta and Faller, Daiane Gracieli and Fitzsimons, Gavan J. and Gheorghiu, Alexandra and Gómez, Ángel and Hamaidia, Ali and Han, Qing and Helmy, Mai and Hudiyana, Joevarian and Jeronimus, Bertus F. and Jiang, Ding Yu and Jovanović, Veljko and Kamenov, Željka and Kende, Anna and Keng, Shian Ling and Kieu, Tra Thi Thanh and Koc, Yasin and Kovyazina, Kamila and Kozytska, Inna and Krause, Joshua and Kruglanski, Arie W. and Kurapov, Anton and Kutlaca, Maja and Lantos, Nóra Anna and Lemay, Edward P. and Lesmana, Cokorda Bagus Jaya and Louis, Winnifred R. and Lueders, Adrian and Malik, Najma Iqbal and Martinez, Anton and McCabe, Kira O. and Mehulić, Jasmina and Milla, Mirra Noor and Mohammed, Idris and Moyano, Manuel and Muhammad, Hayat and Muluk, Hamdi and Myroniuk, Solomiia and Najafi, Reza and Nisa, Claudia F. and Nyúl, Boglárka and O'Keefe, Paul A. and Olivas Osuna, Jose Javier and Osin, Evgeny N. and Park, Joonha and Pica, Gennaro and Rees, Jonas H. and Reitsema, Anne Margit and Rullo, Marika and Ryan, Michelle K. and Samekin, Adil and Santtila, Pekka and Sasin, Edyta and Schumpe, Birga Mareen and Selim, Heyla A. and Stanton, Michael Vicente and Stroebe, Wolfgang and Sultana, Samiah and Sutton, Robbie M. and Tseliou, Eleftheria and Utsugi, Akira and van Breen, Jolien Anne and van Lissa, Caspar J. and Van Veen, Kees and vanDellen, Michelle R. and Vázquez, Alexandra and Wollast, Robin and Yeung, Victoria Wai lan and Zand, Somayeh and Žeželj, Iris Lav and Zheng, Bang and Zick, Andreas and Zúñiga, Claudia and Leander, N. Pontus (2022) Concern with COVID-19 pandemic threat and attitudes towards immigrants: the mediating effect of the desire for tightness. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 3 . ISSN 2666-6227

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Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2021.100028

Abstract

Tightening social norms is thought to be adaptive for dealing with collective threat yet it may have negative consequences for increasing prejudice. The present research investigated the role of desire for cultural tightness, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, in increasing negative attitudes towards immigrants. We used participant-level data from 41 countries (N = 55,015) collected as part of the PsyCorona project, a cross-national longitudinal study on responses to COVID-19. Our predictions were tested through multilevel and SEM models, treating participants as nested within countries. Results showed that people's concern with COVID-19 threat was related to greater desire for tightness which, in turn, was linked to more negative attitudes towards immigrants. These findings were followed up with a longitudinal model (N = 2,349) which also showed that people's heightened concern with COVID-19 in an earlier stage of the pandemic was associated with an increase in their desire for tightness and negative attitudes towards immigrants later in time. Our findings offer insight into the trade-offs that tightening social norms under collective threat has for human groups.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	COVID-19; Desire for tightness; Negative attitudes; Threat
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Çiğdem Bağcı
Date Deposited:	06 May 2023 21:49
Last Modified:	06 May 2023 21:49
URI:	https://research.sabanciuniv.edu/id/eprint/45475

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