In the aftermath of terrorism: Effects of self versus group affirmation on support for discriminatory policies

Abstract

An experiment conducted with 240 French undergraduates examined the effectiveness of self-affirmation and group-affirmation procedures for diminishing perceived threat and support for discriminatory policy shortly after terrorist attacks in Paris. (Two pilot studies tested the affirmation procedures before the attacks). We hypothesized that affirmations that are congruent with dominant modes of self-definition should be more effective than incongruent affirmations. That is, we predicted that the self-affirmation manipulation should be most effective at reducing prejudice among people high in individualism, whereas the group-affirmation manipulation may be most effective among people high in collectivism. Results only supported the former hypothesis. The self-affirmation procedure effectively reduced perceptions of threat and support for discriminatory policies among those high in individualism, but the group affirmation had no consistent effects, either among those high in collectivism or otherwise. The findings suggest important practical and theoretical differences in the vulnerabilities of self and social identities in the aftermath of terrorism.