I like You Even Less at Christmas Dinner! Prejudice Level as a Function of an Approaching National or Religious Holiday

Abstract

In many conducted psychological studies, it has been demonstrated that attitudes towards minority groups can change under the influence of electoral campaigns, as well as terrorist attacks, or street riots. In the first study presented in this article, we have examined whether the level of prejudice towards Muslims increases during the period preceding national and religious holidays. It was assumed that during such periods, issues of identity are accented, which may reinforce negative attitudes towards an external group not included in the category of “we”. The study was carried out following the lost letter procedure. It turned out that the prejudices thus operationalized against Muslims grew modestly in the period preceding a state holiday, and much more so in the period preceding Christmas. In the second study we activated accessibility of concepts of a national or Catholic nature, after which we measured anti-Muslim prejudices. It turned out that activated content of a religious nature influences (to a small degree) the activation of prejudices, while in respect of activation of content of a national character we did not record such an impact.