Speakers
Description
Personal Anxiety, Intergroup Anxiety, and Perceived Threat Serially Mediate the Relationship Between Conflict Exposure and Aversive Attitudes Towards the Outgroup
ABSTRACT
Exposure to conflict extensively contributes to unfavorable attitudes toward outgroups. The stress-based model of political extremism explains this by psychological distress and perceived threat, yet it primarily assumes distress is personal, overlooking the crucial role of intergroup distress. This oversight is significant, as intergroup distress (i.e., anxiety)–apprehension during or anticipating outgroup interactions–independently intensifies perceived threat and fosters aversive attitudes. To fill this gap, this study extends the stress-based model by including personal and intergroup anxiety as serial mediators. We propose that personal anxiety increases intergroup anxiety, which in turn boosts perceived threat, ultimately leading to adverse outgroup attitudes. A sample of 943 conflict-exposed individuals completed scales measuring conflict exposure, personal and intergroup anxiety, perceived threat, and aversive attitudes toward the outgroup. The findings confirm that
personal anxiety, intergroup anxiety, and perceived threat serially mediate the relationship between conflict exposure and the development of aversive attitudes towards outgroups. This refined model offers a more nuanced understanding of the psychological pathways linking conflict exposure to aversive attitudes by differentiating psychological distress into personal and intergroup anxiety. By implication, the findings underscore the importance of developing interventions that address both individual-level distress and intergroup-specific distress to mitigate the perceived threat and, subsequently, the formation of negative intergroup attitudes towards the outgroup.
