Belittling national identity raises subconscious death-thought accessibility

Evidence

This finding is not confined to religious beliefs. In another study, Canadians read essays that belittled either common Canadian or Australian values. The anti-Canada essay was titled “Down with Canada” and opened with the statement “Everyone hates Canada, here are a few of the reasons I do.” The tirade went on to mock Canadian food, health care, and sports. “In the U.S.,” the writer noted, “hockey receives about as much attention and commands about the same fan-base as Monster Trucking…. ONLY Canadians care about hockey. Does the U.S. have hockey teams? Yeah. We also have professional bowlers, billiard players, sport fishermen, and poker players. We have loads of professional athletes playing insignificant sports…LIKE HOCKEY.” … Sure enough, Canadians pelted with condemnations of their country generated more death-related responses than those who read the comparably nasty assault on Australians. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 181

Categorization

• CANDY: The ‘Down with Canada’ essay mocking hockey as comparable to professional bowling is memorable and tweetable.