Uncertain, unfamiliar, low-power settings maximize perceived outgroup threat.

Evidence

The situations most likely to create perceptions of threat are those in which people are uncertain how to behave, are in unfamiliar settings, believe they are outnumbered and “outgunned” (have lower power than the other group), feel unsupported by authority figures, and are competing against an outgroup that can harm them or has threatened to do so. — Walter G. Stephan, Oscar Ybarra, Kimberly Rios Morrison, Intergroup Threat Theory, 270

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: An ambiguous, unconcretized threat fragments rather than unites a crowd. — John Drury and Evangelos Ntontis, A SOCIAL IDENTITY MODEL OF COLLECTIVE…, 27; Threat effects on attitudes are stronger for low-status than high-status outgroups — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 129

Related

• Uncertainty, disadvantage, and competition in a setting amplify perceived threat. (similarity 0.90)
• Equal-status group threat effects remain unexplored (similarity 0.87)
• Threat dynamics among status-equal groups remain unexamined. (similarity 0.86)
• Threat effects on attitudes are stronger for low-status than high-status outgroups (similarity 0.84)
• Groups are judged more threatening than the individuals composing them (similarity 0.83)
• Different outgroup types provoke distinct kinds of threat (similarity 0.83)
• Perceived threat amplifies both in-group favoritism and out-group hostility (similarity 0.83)
• Low power groups feel more threat; high power groups react harder to it (similarity 0.82)
• Group status moderates threat-attitude relationships (similarity 0.82)
• Intergroup threat and negative outgroup attitudes relate bidirectionally, not one-way. (similarity 0.82)
• Meta-analysis across studies quantifies how distinct intergroup threat types relate to outgroup attitudes. (similarity 0.82)
• Perceived outgroup threats damage intergroup relations even without hostility (similarity 0.82)
• Ingroup identification causally precedes intergroup threat (similarity 0.82)
• Group-based identity forces precede realistic and symbolic threat perception (similarity 0.82)
• Intergroup threat susceptibility is predictable from personality and background traits (similarity 0.82)