Death reminders inflame xenophobia unless compassionate religious values are primed

Evidence

Psychologists Tom Pyszczynski, Abdolhossein Abdollahi, and Zachary Rothschild showed how even fundamentalist religions can be redirected from conflict to peace. When people are reminded of death, they defensively cling to their cultural beliefs and become more intolerant toward cultural others, including religious others. Yet, even when existential threat is in the air, there is the possibility of transforming jingoism into pacifism. In one study among Iranian Muslims, reminders of death increased support for suicide attacks against Americans. However, when also reminded of Islamic compassionate values (“Do goodness to others because Allah loves those who do good,”), reminders of death decreased support for anti-American suicide attacks. In a parallel study with American Fundamentalist Christians, reminders of death again increased support for American military intervention in the Middle East. However, reading compassionate messages from the teachings of Jesus (“love thy neighbor as thyself”), combined with reminders of death, led to decreased support for military solutions, down to levels comparable to opinions expressed by liberal Americans. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 550

Categorization

• QUESTION: Terror management priming data suggest the same religious text can push either toward or against out-group violence depending on which value is activated—does this map onto how Rodrigues’ death proximity shaped his surrender?
• SHARE: This exact experimental asymmetry—death anxiety amplifying intolerance unless counter-primed with compassionate in-group scripture—would interest a social-psychologist friend working on intergroup threat.
• XREF: connects to: Unfulfilled unification promises triggered xenophobic violence against foreigners — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 207; Humans deflect death anxiety onto cultural symbols, and defending those symbols produces real-world evil — Jeff Greenberg and Spee Kosloff, Terror Management Theory: Implications…, 25; Death concerns strengthen appeals to kill culturally designated evil groups. — Jeff Greenberg and Spee Kosloff, Terror Management Theory: Implications…, 68