Perceived threat to the group’s moral image triggers moral disengagement strategies and ranks closing.

Evidence

With regard to the antecedent, our contention is that what is triggering the shift is threat, specifically, threat to the image of the in-group, and thus the self, as a moral entity. The threat is likely to be perceived very early on, from the first paragraph of the article, if not from the very title, for the in-group appears to have perpetrated the torture and killing of prisoners, which clearly violates moral standards. … The process the reader engaged in was not the focus of our investigation, but what I want to convey here is that the reader probably quickly recruits some defense mechanisms, some of which are the very moral disengagement strategies discussed above. At the same time, a psychological closing of the ranks may be occurring, probably the consequence of a variety of mechanisms, among which the sense of being identified, by the invisible narrator, as the perpetrator of atrocities by virtue of one’s social identity (which enhances the salience of one’s social identity), and the fact that one’s group is under critique/attack. Such a closing of the ranks may be at the origin of the morality shifting that we observed, resulting in an enhanced accessibility of the concept of loyalty and authority. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2136

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘closing of ranks’ mechanism corroborates the ingroup-defensive dynamics in the Allport thread and echo moral-panic theory’s boundary reinforcement. — connects to: Shaming perpetrator groups over moral identity backfires by encouraging self-focus and backlash — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations:…, 156; Sacralized dominance frames out-group resistance as savage to sustain moral superiority. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 115; Ingroup glorification uniquely predicts resistance to justice for outgroup victims, via moral disengagement. — Bernhard Leidner et al., Ingroup Glorification, Moral…, 14 (+1 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2136