Threat can spur overfriendly behavior aimed at proving non-prejudice
Evidence
Although threats usually induce hostile behavior (be it direct or displaced) toward outgroup members, threats sometimes trigger seemingly positive behaviors toward outgroup members. Positive behaviors are particularly likely to emerge when people are motivated to appear non-prejudiced and hence maintain a positive image of themselves or their ingroup (see Devine, Monteith, Zuwerink, & Elliot, 1991; Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986). In one study, for example, heterosexual male participants were told that they would converse with a gay male about either dating (threat condition) or life on campus (control condition). Participants in the threat condition sat closer to their conversation partner than did those in the control condition, apparently because the former were more concerned than the latter that their partner would perceive them as prejudiced (Bromgard & Stephan, in press). — Walter G. Stephan, Oscar Ybarra, Kimberly Rios Morrison, Intergroup Threat Theory, 21
Categorization
- SEED: Essay: ‘the camouflage of closeness’ — how threat-induced anxiety can look like friendliness, complicating how we read social warmth.
Related
- Negative outgroup contact raises anxiety, which breeds hostility and contact avoidance. (similarity 0.79)
- Perceived threat amplifies both in-group favoritism and out-group hostility (similarity 0.79)
- Group anger drives confrontation while fear drives avoidance (similarity 0.79)
- Groups seen as competing with the ingroup are stereotyped as low in warmth (similarity 0.79)
- Threat can redirect hostility toward unrelated weaker outgroups (similarity 0.78)
- Cross-group friendship and empathy reduce the threat behind intergroup bias. (similarity 0.78)
- Positive stereotypes may also induce perceived threat (similarity 0.78)