Processing information on the negative consequences of climate change can have unrelated side-effects such as increased outgroup derogation. Previous research suggests differing theoretical explanations for these “spill-over” effects such as buffering existential anxiety. Here, we test and compare two alternative explanations based on social dominance theory and the group-based control model. Across two pre-registered experiments (N = 1031; USA & UK), we examine whether social dominance orientation (SDO) and/or ingroup identification moderate the relationship between experimentally induced collective threats (i.e., climate change and intergroup threat) and subjective threat perceptions, modern racism, and pro-environmental collective action support. In Study 1, SDO and ingroup identification were measured 2 years prior to our experiment as antecedents of threat perceptions. Our results suggest that informing individuals about negative consequences of climate change (e.g., wildfires, floods, resource scarcity, health etc.), leads to higher intergroup threat perceptions and modern racism. These spill-over effects, in turn, are moderated by SDO but not by ingroup identification. In Study 2, we successfully replicate our findings, measuring SDO and ingroup identification directly after the threat manipulation. Moreover, we use a behavioral measure of pro-environmental collective action to assess more direct stimuli-responses. In Study 2, again, we show that SDO moderates the spill-over effects. In contrast, ingroup identification showed only marginally significant spill-over effect moderation and did not increase in response to experimental threat-cues. Notably, we also find that intergroup threat-cues generalize onto higher climate change threat perceptions. No effects on behavioral collective action support were found.

The aim of this study is to analyze the effects of specific Islamophobic beliefs, namely, anti-Muslim prejudice, anti-Islam sentiment, and Islamophobic conspiracy theories on outgroup discrimination. Moreover, further intergroup and interindividual difference variables are included into the analyses. The results suggest of the online survey (N = 450) suggest that outgroup discrimination is best predicted by Islamophobic conspiracy theories, while simultaneously controlling for the effects of social dominance orientation, in-group identification, political conservatism and the two additional dimensions of Islamophobia. As expected, intergroup contact showed negative associations with outgroup discrimination.

Ecological dominance is a central concept in the study of interspecies and species- environment relations. Yet, although theoretical and empirical work on ecological dominance has progressed in many scientific disciplines, the psychology of ecological dominance remains understudied. The present research attempts to advance theoretical and empirical inquiry on ecological dominance as a psychological predisposition, examining how and why it influences humans’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors across different relational domains (i.e., intraspecies, interspecies, human-environment). To this end, we validate a novel measure, the Ecological Dominance Orientation (EDO) scale, based on the popular iconic depiction of eco-centric vs. anthropocentric arrangements of the relationship between humans, non-human animals, and the natural environment. In two pre-registered studies conducted across 2 countries (N = 1,312), we demonstrate that EDO a) shapes attitudes in a similar fashion both within and between different relational domains (i.e., intergroup, interspecies, human-environment relations), b) is uniquely predictive of numerous socially consequential attitudes across relational domains (i.e., modern sexism, modern racism, speciesism, anthropocentrism) over and above established measures of personal ideology and beliefs, and c) is reliable over time. This research extends classical Social Dominance Theory (Sidanius and Pratto, 1999) by theorizing about the socio-ecological roots of intergroup, interspecies, and human-environment relations as hierarchically structured power relations. Theoretical and practical implications of social and ecological dominance orientations are discussed.

This article provides an examination of the structure of Islamophobia across cultures. Our novel measure—the Tripartite Islamophobia Scale (TIS)—embeds three theoretically and statistically grounded subcomponents of Islamophobia: anti-Muslim prejudice, anti-Islamic sentiment, and conspiracy beliefs. Across six samples (i.e., India, Poland, Germany, France, and the United States), preregistered analyses corroborated that these three subcomponents are statistically distinct. Measurement invariance analyses indicated full scalar invariance, suggesting that the tripartite understanding of Islamophobia is generalizable across cultural contexts. Furthermore, the subcomponents were partially dissociated in terms of the intergroup emotions they are predicted by as well as the intergroup outcomes they predict (e.g., dehumanization, ethnic persecution). For example, intergroup anger and disgust underpin Islamophobic attitudes, over and above the impact of fear. Finally, our results show that social dominance orientation (SDO) and ingroup identification moderate intergroup emotions and Islamophobia. We address both theoretical implications for the nature of Islamophobia and practical interventions to reduce it.

The aim of this paper is threefold. First, based on ongoing theoretical discussions on the dimensionality of Islamophobia, this study analyzes whether Islamophobia empirically constitutes a one-dimensional construct or rather a multidimensional construct consisting of anti-Muslim prejudice and anti-Islam sentiment. Second, the effects of symbolic, realistic, and terroristic (safety) threats on Islamophobia were analyzed concurrently. Finally, within the framework of the revised Integrated Threat Theory (Stephan & Renfro, 2002), and in order to test the mediating effect of threats, SDO is tested as an antecedent of perceived threat and Islamophobia. Respondents from Berlin (N = 355) participated in an online survey. The results indicate that Islamophobia empirically constitutes a two-dimensional phenomenon, consisting of anti-Muslim and anti-Islam sentiment. Whereas symbolic threat is related to both types of Islamophobia, realistic threat is associated only with anti-Muslim prejudice, and terroristic threat is associated only with anti-Islam sentiment. Finally, the results indicate that the relationship between SDO and both dimensions of Islamophobia is mediated by threats. Symbolic threats mediate the relationships between SDO and both dimensions of Islamophobia. Realistic threats mediate the relationship between SDO and anti-Muslim prejudice and terroristic threats between SDO and anti-Islam sentiment.

In response to critical stances voiced in regard to a comparative approach toward Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, the aim of this paper is to account for these critiques, and to statistically re-analyze the two phenomena in their structural and dispositional similarities and differences. First, an alternative perspective on Islamophobia is proposed, which differentiates between anti-Islam sentiment and anti-Muslim prejudices, and additionally includes anti-Muslim conspiracy beliefs as an integral component. Second, anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic prejudices and conspiracy beliefs are then compared in their social psychological correlates. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted with young adults from Berlin (N=450). The results indicate similarities and differences in the underlying social psychological mechanisms of both phenomena. Both anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic prejudices are partially explained by a personal ideology of inequality, e.g., social dominance orientation, the belief-in-a-just-world ideology, and racism. However, regarding the conspiracy beliefs, conspiracy mentality (Bruder et al. 2013)—a psychological construct that measurs a general propensity towards conspiratorial thinking—better predicted anti-Semitic conspiracy beliefs than anti-Muslim conspiracy beliefs.