Perceived security threat is the single strongest predictor of out-group intolerance.

Evidence

A cross-national study, conducted in the United States, Germany, France, Spain, and Britain, found that perceptions of an impending threat to national security drive negative attitudes toward Muslims, in addition to negative out-group attitudes. This study argued that “threat perception is a major, and perhaps the single most important predictor, of ingroup attitudes toward outgroups.” 11 The last empirical study I will mention found a significant correlation between negative attitudes toward mosques as places that encourage hostility toward the United States and negative attitudes toward Muslims. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 254

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s guiding question: fear (threat perception) is the primary driver, not the intrinsic qualities of the out-group — the pivot from ‘them’ to ‘us’.
• QUESTION: This is the psychological mechanism hook — worth chasing how threat perception operates as projection rather than accurate assessment.