Authoritarianism, threat, and prejudice: An analysis of mediation and moderation
Abstract
Right-wing authoritarianism is a central construct in individual differences approaches to prejudice. Its power to predict prejudice is often attributed to perceived threat. However, the exact moderating and mediating processes involved are little understood. In two studies (Ns = 53, 84), exposure to threatening versus nonthreatening information about an ethnic out-group had reliable indirect effects on prejudice in authoritarians, but not in nonauthoritarians, largely because authoritarians were more likely to perceive actual threat when they interpreted the information received to represent a threatening argument. Additionally, in Study 2, authoritarians reacted more strongly with negative emotions when they perceived actual threat.
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Other threats to human welfare have been found to be predictive of individuals' authoritarian personality and related attitudes.
“other threats to human welfare have also been found to be predictive of individuals' authoritarian personality and related attitudes [38], [39], [40], [41], [42].”
From Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013) · cites this paper as [40]
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Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism
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- Authors
- Cohrs, J. C., & Ibler, S.
- Affiliations
- Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE)
- b Nuremberg, Germany
- Corresponding author
- Cohrs, J. Christopher
- Venue
- Basic and Applied Social Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2009-02-19
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 81-94
- ISSN
- 0197-3533 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-4834
- OpenAlex
- W1977978563
- Cited by
- 110
- References
- 75
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 17.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Basic and Applied Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Keywords
- right-wing authoritarianism, prejudice, threat perception, mediation, moderation, individual differences, negative emotions, intergroup attitudes
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