Dangers and Strangers: Pathogenic threat, fear, and perceived vulnerability do not predict ethnocentric orientations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F21%3A10436604" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/21:10436604 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=G-ha6umbbn" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=G-ha6umbbn</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.22330/he/36/125-137" target="_blank" >10.22330/he/36/125-137</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Dangers and Strangers: Pathogenic threat, fear, and perceived vulnerability do not predict ethnocentric orientations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe

Original language description

Previous research has postulated effects of environmental stress on ingroup/outgroup thinking: The higher the pathogenic risk and the perceived vulnerability to it, the higher the ethnocentric orientation. Here, we examine ethnocentric orientations in Austria, Poland, Spain and Czech Republic in spring 2020, as the spread of SARS-CoV2 was on the rise and lockdown measures were introduced throughout Europe. Critically, these countries were affected differentially by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 mortality. 333 participants were asked to complete questionnaires assessing identification with all humanity, attachment style, and perceived vulnerability to disease at the beginning and end of the first European curfews. Additionally, they answered questions regarding their social interactions and personal consequences of the crisis. To investigate the relationship between these variables and ethnocentrism, we train two types of machine-learning models to predict ethnocentrism based on the complex interplay of interpersonal variables (psychological traits, interpersonal interactions) and environmental conditions (economic threats, local mortality, viral spread, lockdown measures). We find that identification with all humanity in relation to narrower ingroups and perceived infectability did not systematically change over the course of the first European lockdowns, whereas we observe a slight decrease in germ aversion. Importantly, none of our models could predict any inter-individual differences in identification with narrower versus wider groups based on environmental, psychological, social, and demographic variables. Our results indicate that environmental variables connected to pathogenic and economic threat, perceived vulnerability and other psychosocial variables, all do not contribute to predicting ethnocentric orientations. Cumulatively, our results do not support the hypothesis that higher pathogenic and environmental threat predicts identification with narrower ingroups. Our findings are discussed in the context of the open debate related to the influence of harsh environments on group psychology, and might inspire further research on this topic during this unprecedented global pandemic.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10602 - Biology (theoretical, mathematical, thermal, cryobiology, biological rhythm), Evolutionary biology

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Human Ethology [online]

ISSN

2224-4476

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

36

Issue of the periodical within the volume

January

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

13

Pages from-to

125-137

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

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