Common external threats can reduce prejudice among ordinary outgroups

Evidence

Although this picture of the outcomes of threats is almost exclusively negative, it may be well to bear in mind that threats can sometimes have positive consequences. Threats may serve to improve sub-group relations within a larger group. For instance, threats to a superordinate group (e.g., Americans) can reduce prejudice toward those who are ordinarily seen as outgroup members (e.g., perceptions of African Americans by European Americans and vice versa), thus leading all members of the superordinate category to unite in the face of a common threat (Dovidio, ten Vergert, Stewart, Gaertner, Johnson, Esses, Riek, & Pearson, 2004). — Walter G. Stephan, Oscar Ybarra, Kimberly Rios Morrison, Intergroup Threat Theory, 24

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the common-enemy / superordinate identity effect; parallels the superordinate recategorization work of Gaertner and Dovidio referenced. — connects to: Perceived outgroup threats damage intergroup relations even without hostility — Walter G. Stephan, Oscar Ybarra, Kimberly Rios Morrison, Intergroup Threat Theory, 38; Groups are perceived as more threatening than individuals, so dissolving category boundaries lowers threat.; A common external threat does not reliably unite polarized publics — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 125 (+1 more)

Related

• Groups are perceived as more threatening than individuals, so dissolving category boundaries lowers threat. (similarity 0.88)
• Recategorizing outgroup members as ingroup members diminishes perceived threat. (similarity 0.84)
• Different outgroup types provoke distinct kinds of threat (similarity 0.83)
• Perceived outgroup threats damage intergroup relations even without hostility (similarity 0.82)
• Threat can redirect hostility toward unrelated weaker outgroups (similarity 0.82)
• Threat-driven cognitive biases facilitate and justify intergroup violence (similarity 0.82)
• External threat makes groups punish their own deviants harder (similarity 0.81)
• Groups are judged more threatening than the individuals composing them (similarity 0.81)
• Cross-group friendship and empathy reduce the threat behind intergroup bias. (similarity 0.81)
• Superordinate identities reduce bias and can mitigate perceived threat between groups. (similarity 0.81)
• Intergroup threat is not required to link in-group positivity with out-group hostility. (similarity 0.81)
• Perceived threat amplifies both in-group favoritism and out-group hostility (similarity 0.81)
• A shared superordinate identity can backfire by fueling subgroup in-group projection. (similarity 0.81)
• A common external threat does not reliably unite polarized publics (similarity 0.80)
• Equal-status group threat effects remain unexplored (similarity 0.80)