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Pandemic threat and group cohesion: national identification in the wake of COVID-19 is associated with authoritarianism.
Date
2022
Abstract
Authoritarianism emerges in times of societal threat, in part driven by desires for group-based security. As such, we propose that the threat caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased authoritarian tendencies and that this can be partially explained by increased national identification. We tested this hypothesis by collecting cross-sectional data from three different countries in April 2020. In Study 1, data from Ireland (N = 1276) showed that pandemic threat predicted increased national identification, which in turn predicted authoritarianism. In Study 2, we replicated this indirect effect in a representative UK sample (N = 506). In Study 3, we used an alternative measure of authoritarianism and conceptually replicated this effect among USA citizens (N = 429). In this US sample, the association between threat and authoritarian tendencies was stronger among progressives compared to conservatives. Findings are discussed and linked to group-based models of authoritarianism.
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Description
peer-reviewed
Publisher
Taylor & Francis - Routledge
Citation
Journal of Social Psychology;
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Maher_2022_Pandemic.pdf
Adobe PDF, 929.06 KB
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Funding code
Funding Information
Horizon 2020, European Union (EU), European Research Council (ERC)