Threat to national identity continuity: When affirmation procedures increase the acceptance of Muslim immigrants
Abstract
European majority group members increasingly perceive threats to national continuity, which inturn leads to defensive reactions, including prejudice against Muslim immigrants. However,according to self-affirmation theory, individuals can respond in a less defensive manner if theyhave affirmed positive aspects of their self-concept (self-affirmation) or their social identity(group-affirmation). In the present research, we test the potential of affirmation procedures astools for reducing prejudice towards Muslim immigrants when national continuity is threatened.We examine the impact of personal vs. normative attachment to Christian roots of nationalidentity on the efficacy of affirmation procedures, and the congruence between the threatenedand the affirmed domains of the self. Results show that group-affirmation reduced opposition toMuslims’ rights amongst participants personally attached to the idea that national continuity isbased on Christian roots. The discussion stresses the importance of non-congruence between thethreatened domain of the self and the affirmed domain for the design of affirmation procedures.
Origin : Files produced by the author(s)
