Building on previous research demonstrating that demographic growth of racial minorities increases realistic threat and prejudice among majority group members, we examined whether demographic increases of groups associated with symbolic threat (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender [LGBT] and nonreligious groups) increased realistic threat, symbolic threat, and/or prejudice. In a single-paper meta-analysis across four studies, participants who read that LGBT groups were becoming more prevalent in the United States exhibited heightened perceptions of realistic threat and (especially) symbolic threat from these groups, which in turn predicted anti-LGBT prejudice. Two similar studies examining the growth of nonreligious groups demonstrated weaker effects. Implications for America’s growing diversity and future directions for studying these effects are discussed.
Al-KireR. L.PasekM.RowattW. C.TsangJ. A. (2021). Christian no more: Christian Americans are threatened by their impending minority status. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 97, Article 104223. https://doi/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104223
BaiH.FedericoC. M. (2020). Collective existential threat mediates White population decline’s effect on defensive reactions. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 23(3), 361–377. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430219839763
4.
BergstromV. N.PlaksJ. E.ChasteenA. L. (2022). To believe or not to believe: Stereotypes about agnostics. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 14(1), 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000419
BrandtM. J.IJzermanH.DijksterhuisA.FarachF. J.GellerJ.Giner-SorollaR.GrangeJ. A.PeruginiM.SpiesJ. R.Van’t VeerA. (2014). The replication recipe: What makes for a convincing replication?Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 50, 217–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.10.005
7.
BrownX.RuckerJ. M.RichesonJ. A. (2022). Political ideology moderates White Americans’ reactions to racial demographic change. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(3), 642–660. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302211052516
8.
CookC. L.CottrellC. A.WebsterG. D. (2015). No good without God: Antiatheist prejudice as a function of threats to morals and values. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 7(3), 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000013
9.
CottrellC. A.NeubergS. L. (2005). Different emotional reactions to different groups: A sociofunctional threat-based approach to “prejudice.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(5), 770–789. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.5.770
10.
CraigM. A.RichesonJ. A. (2014a). More diverse yet less tolerant? How the increasingly diverse racial landscape affects white Americans’ racial attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(6), 750–761. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214524993
11.
CraigM. A.RichesonJ. A. (2014b). On the precipice of a “majority-minority” America: Perceived status threat from the racial demographic shift affects White Americans’ political ideology. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1189–1197. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614527113
12.
DanboldF.HuoY. J. (2022). Welcome to be like us: Expectations of outgroup assimilation shape dominant group resistance to diversity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 48(2), 268–282. https://doi/10.1177/01461672211004806
13.
EdgellP.GerteisJ.HartmannD. (2006). Atheists as other: Moral boundaries and cultural membership in American society. American Sociological Review, 71(2), 211–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100203
14.
FaulF.ErdfelderE.BuchnerA.LangA. G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 1149–1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149
15.
FiskeS. T.CuddyA. J. C.GlickP.XuJ. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 878–902. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.6.878
16.
GervaisW. M. (2011). Finding the faithless: Perceived atheist prevalence reduces anti-atheist prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(4), 543–556. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167211399583
17.
GervaisW. M.ShariffA. F.NorenzayanA. (2011). Do you believe in atheists? Distrust is central to anti-atheist prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(6), 1189–1206. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025882
KossowskaM.SzwedP.Czernatowicz-KukuczkaA.SekerdejM.WyczesanyM. (2017). From threat to relief: Expressing prejudice toward atheists as a self-regulatory strategy protecting the religious orthodox from threat. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 873. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00873
22.
LevyM.MyersD. (2021). Racial projections in perspective: Public reactions to narratives about rising diversity. Perspectives on Politics, 19(4), 1147–1164. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592720003679
23.
MajorB.BlodornA.BlascovichG. M. (2018). The threat of increasing diversity: Why many White Americans support Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 21(6), 931–940. https://doi.org/10.1177/136843021667304
24.
McShaneB. B.BöckenholtU. (2017). Single paper meta-analysis: Benefits for study summary, theory-testing, and replicability. Journal of Consumer Research, 43(6), 1048–1063. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr.ucw085
25.
McShaneB. B.BöckenholtU. (2020). Enriching meta-analytic models of summary data: A thought experiment and case study. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3(1), 81–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245919884304
MossA. J.BlodornA.Van CampA. R.O’BrienL. T. (2019). Gender equality, value violations, and prejudice toward Muslims. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 22(2), 288–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430217716751
28.
ObaidiM.KunstJ. R.KteilyN.ThomsenL.SidaniusJ. (2018). Living under threat: Mutual threat perception drives anti-Muslim and anti-Western hostility in the age of terrorism. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(5), 567–584. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2362
29.
OsbornH.SosaN.RiosK. (2020). Perceiving demographic diversity as a threat: Divergent effects of multiculturalism and polyculturalism. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 23(7), 1014–1031. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430219880606
30.
OuttenH. R.SchmittM. T.MillerD. A.GarciaA. L. (2012). Feeling threatened about the future: Whites’ emotional reactions to anticipated ethnic demographic changes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(1), 14–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/01467211418531
31.
PerkinsK. M.Toskos DilsA.FlusbergS. J. (2022). The perceived threat of demographic shifts depends on how you think the economy works. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(1), 227–246. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220951621
RayT. N.ParkhillM. R. (2021). Heteronormativity, disgust sensitivity, and hostile attitudes toward gay men: Potential mechanisms to maintain social hierarchies. Sex Roles, 84(1), 49–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-020-01146-w
34.
RiekB. M.ManiaE. W.GaertnerS. L. (2006). Intergroup threat and outgroup attitudes: A meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(4), 336–353.
35.
RiosK.CohenA. B. (2023). Taking a “multiple forms” approach to diversity: An introduction, policy implications, and legal recommendations. Social Issues and Policy Review, 17(1), 104–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12089
36.
RiosK.HalperL. R.ScheitleC. P. (2022). Explaining anti-atheist discrimination in the workplace: The role of intergroup threat. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 14(3), 371–380. http://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000326
37.
RiosK.SosaN.OsbornH. (2018). An experimental approach to Intergroup Threat Theory: Manipulations, moderators, and consequences of realistic vs. symbolic threat. European Review of Social Psychology, 29(1), 212–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2018.1537049
38.
SidaniusJ.PrattoF. (2001). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. Cambridge University Press.
StephanW. G.BonieckiK. A.YbarraO.BettencourtA.ErvinK. S.JacksonL. A.McNattP. S.RenfroC. L. (2002). The role of threats in the racial attitudes of Blacks and Whites. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(9), 1242–1254. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672022812009
41.
StewartS.WillerR. (2022). The effects of racial status threat on White Americans’ support for Donald Trump: Results of five experimental tests. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(3), 791–810. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302211048893
42.
TottonR.RiosK. (2021). Predictors of anti-transgender attitudes: Identity-confusion and deception as aspects of distrust. Self and Identity, 20(4), 496–514. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2019.1621928
43.
Velasco GonzálezK.VerkuytenM.WeesieJ.PoppeE. (2008). Prejudice towards Muslims in the Netherlands: Testing integrated threat theory. British Journal of Social Psychology, 47(4), 667–685. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466608X284443
44.
WilkinsC. L.WellmanJ. D.ToosiN. R.MillerC. A.LisnekJ. A.MartinL. A. (2022). Is LGBT progress seen as an attack on Christians? Examining Christian/sexual orientation zero-sum beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 122(1), 73–101. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000363
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
