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The present study prospectively examines associations between citizens' perceived symbolic and realistic threat and mental health before and after refugee settlement in their neighbourhood. Citizens in two Amsterdam (the Netherlands) neighbourhoods participated in the study (N = 280). A follow-up measurement after the settlement of refugees was conducted in one neighbourhood (n = 66). Cross-sectional results confirm that higher levels of perceived symbolic and realistic threat were both associated with poorer mental health. A prospective longitudinal analysis showed no increase in realistic or symbolic threat, but mental health was poorer in citizens after refugee settlement. Higher threat perceptions among citizens in the area before the settlement of refugees predicted poorer mental health after the settlement. This association was stronger than the reverse association (poorer mental health predicting higher threat perceptions). Policymakers should consider experienced threat levels among citizens when developing and communicating refugee settlement policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies (N = 676) highlight the nuanced relationship between conservatism and adherence to COVID-19 policy and recommendations intended to slow the spread of the pandemic in the United States. Study 1 provided evidence that conservative Americans who felt uncertain about themselves and the future experienced elevated levels of symbolic threat (attacks to sociopolitical identity; e.g., the pandemic threatening American democracy) and realistic threat (concrete attacks to material resources or well-being; e.g., the pandemic threatening physical health) in comparison to their more certain counterparts. In Study 2, the association between this form of uncertainty and frequency of risky social behaviors (behaviors that increase the risk of virus transmission) was partially mediated by threat perception for Americans both low and high in conservatism. We discuss findings as an integration of the motivated social cognition framework and uncertainty-identity theory. While self-uncertainty was more associated with greater overall COVID-19 threat perception for Americans high (vs. low) in conservatism, threat perception and frequency of risky social behaviors were associated with self-uncertainty in a manner that is consistent with prevailing liberal and conservative norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hate crimes generally have severe victim outcomes compared to other crimes, and therefore warrant further investigation. These types of crimes can often happen in neighborhoods where people from various cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, etc. meet. Understanding how neighborhood tensions impact the level of hate crimes is important in reducing hate crimes and building community. The current study investigates neighborhood level predictors of hate crimes in a borough of New York City (NYC). Using symbolic threat and defended neighborhoods frameworks, we consider how 311 noise complaints and land use rezoning data can be predictors of hate crimes. We use data from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and NYC Land Use Tax Output. We find that hate crimes are more likely in the neighborhoods where the noise complaints and land use rezoning are higher than the median. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple theoretical orientations propose a link between economic anxiety and racial attitudes. This article explores this link using three studies. The first study uses observational data from the 2016 CCES and ANES to determine whether or not anticipating a loss in income in the coming year is associated with negative racial affect. The second study uses observational data from the 2020 CCES to determine whether or not perceiving a greater risk of personal discrimination is associated with racial resentment. The last uses an original survey experiment from the 2020 CCES to gain insight into how priming intergroup competition shapes whites' racial attitudes. These studies find an association between perceived economic threat and negative racial attitudes. However, the way respondents perceive economic threats seems to be largely shaped by partisan identification with Republicans perceiving greater levels of threat. They also suggest that material and symbolic threats may be mutually reinforcing. These findings support the claim that racial attitudes are deeply connected to economic anxieties and provide insight into how party identification shapes our psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The meaning of places is socially constructed, often informed by the groups that seem pervasive there. For instance, the University of Pennsylvania is sometimes pejoratively called "Jew-niversity of Pennsylvania," and the city of Decatur, Georgia, is disparagingly nicknamed "Dyke-atur," connoting the respective pervasiveness of Jewish students and gay residents. Because these pervasiveness perceptions meaningfully impact how people navigate the social world, it is critical to understand the factors that influence their formation. Across surveys, experiments, and archival data, six studies (N = 3,039 American adults) revealed the role of symbolic threat (i.e., perceived differences in values and worldviews). Specifically, holding constant important features of the group and context, we demonstrated that groups higher in symbolic threat are perceived as more populous in a place and more associated with that place than groups lower in symbolic threat. Ultimately, this work reveals that symbolic threat can both distort how people understand their surroundings and shape the meaning of places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prevailing theme in White nationalist rhetoric is nostalgia for a time when Whites dominated American culture and had unchallenged status. The present research examines a form of collective nostalgia called racial nostalgia and its association with negative intergroup attitudes and extreme ideologies (White nationalism). In Studies 1 and 2, racial nostalgia was associated with higher racial identity, anti-immigrant attitudes, and White nationalism. Study 2 revealed that racial nostalgia was related to extreme ideologies, in part, through perceptions that immigrants and racial minorities posed realistic/symbolic threats. Study 3 manipulated nostalgia using a writing prompt ("America's racial past" vs. "games of America's past") and an identity prime (prime vs. no prime). Racial nostalgia was higher in the racial prompt versus the games prompt condition, regardless of identity prime. Furthermore, there were significant indirect effects of the nostalgia manipulation on support for anti-immigrant policies and endorsement of White nationalism through increased racial nostalgia and its association with perceived threats. These findings show that racial nostalgia can be a maladaptive form of collective nostalgia linked to a sense of loss and threat, and can make people sympathetic to extreme racial ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies examined whether men's perception of the declining value of traditional masculinity activates social status, realistic, and symbolic threat, and in turn motivates opposition to feminist social movements. In Study 1, men's perception that their ingroup is losing value across several social spheres was associated with social status and realistic threat, both of which were associated with opposition to feminist movements. Study 2, an experiment, presented men with public opinion data showing a 30-year decline in the degree to which Americans value traditional masculinity or no decline. Information about the declining value of masculinity activated status threat, which motivated less support for feminist movements. Among men who highly identified as masculine, this same information reduced support for feminist movements through symbolic threat. In sum, perceived decline in the social value of traditional masculinity creates status anxiety about the ingroup's future and motivates compensatory reactions against gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses an interactionist perspective to understand the role of media framings of critical events in catalyzing Western citizens' support for radical responses to Muslim immigration (e.g., armed self-defense). A multi-method series of three studies tested this perspective in the context of the 2015/2016 Cologne New Year's Eve sexual assaults on women. Study 1, a content analysis of 163 online newspaper articles, revealed that mass media attributed the assaults to the suspects' Muslim culture. Study 2, a correlational study ( N = 487) conducted at the peak of the media coverage, confirmed that the degree to which participants accepted the veracity of the culture-focused media representation strengthened the relation between their feelings of symbolic threat as a result of Muslim immigration and their approval of radical responses. Study 3, an experiment with pre-registered hypotheses ( N = 91), replicated and extended these interaction effects. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a context of inflow of immigration and economic crisis, new forms of prejudice and the activation of the perception of threat (realistic and symbolic) will determine the response to immigrant minorities (outgroups). The antecedents of threat are considered to be: the perception of the intergroup situation and the forms of affective prejudice. The outcome variables are ingroup favouritism, prosocial response, empathy and willingness to help. In a cross-sectional study based on a random survey of Basques (n = 500), structural equation modelling analyses were applied to test the differences between realistic and symbolic threat. The results indicate that when the majority group status is perceived as legitimate, the perception of realistic threat arises and this increases ingroup favouritism and decreases prosocial response to the outgroup, directly and through the expression of affective prejudice. Symbolic threat, on the other hand, plays a more limited role. Mechanisms of the perception of realistic and symbolic threat regarding attitudes of natives to immigrants are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the extent to which race and age individually and jointly determined juvenile justice case outcomes at intake and judicial disposition among males in one county juvenile court in the state of Iowa. Using an interpretation of the symbolic threat thesis and the emphasis on stereotyping as the theoretical framework, we discovered that being Black and older increased a youth's chances of receiving an intake court referral and decreased the odds of participation in intake diversion. Age did not condition intake decision making for African Americans but was discovered to temper case outcomes for Whites. Although individual relationships were found, there was no evidence of joint race-age effects in decision making at judicial disposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite large-scale increases in juvenile incarceration rates nationally, relatively little attention has been given to explaining why some states invest more heavily than others in the long-term confinement of young offenders. This article explores four potential explanations. First, investment in juvenile incarceration may be greater where symbolic threats to social order are higher. Second, it may be greater in states where crime, especially juvenile violent crime, is more prevalent. Third, juvenile incarceration practices may simply reflect those deemed suitable for adult offenders; thus, states with higher adult incarceration rates may incarcerate more juveniles. Finally, cultural acceptance of punitive policies, as in the South, may contribute to higher rates of juvenile incarceration. Using state-level data, the article focuses primarily on the first explanation and the extent to which the alternatives can account for any observed symbolic threat effect. The study's implications for policy and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]