Graduation Date
Summer 2021
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Psychology, option Academic Research
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Amber Gaffney
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Gregg Gold
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Dr. Christopher Aberson
Third Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Extremist activism, Identity threat, Minority influence, Activism
Subject Categories
Psychology
Abstract
The current research is closely bound to a number of critical social issues that are becoming increasingly prevalent, such as homegrown terrorism enacted by Right wing extremist groups in the United States, through its focus on the development of attitudes toward moderate and extremist activism. This study examines the impact of an extremist, ingroup faction by manipulating identity threat and minority or majority influence. The current research examined these effects by measuring evaluations of moderate and extremist activist groups among members of the Democratic Party in the United States (N = 391) who were recruited from MTurk. Participants were randomly assigned to evaluate one of two types of activist groups as well as randomly assigned to perceive high or low levels of identity threat and to perceive minority or majority support for the activist group they were evaluating. Based on previous literature regarding extremism, minority influence, and identity threat, it was hypothesized that when identity threat was high, evaluation of activist groups would be more positive than when identity threat was low. Additionally, it was hypothesized that evaluation of activist groups would be more positive when under minority influence as well as that activist group evaluation would be more positive in the moderate activism condition than in the extremist activist condition. Lastly, it was hypothesized that while participants assigned to the minority and extremist activism condition would typically report more negative attitudes toward the activist group under low identity threat, under high identity threat participants in the minority and extremist activist condition would report more positive attitudes toward the activist group. The hypotheses were partially supported, such that those experiencing high identity threat evaluated the extremist activist group more favorably than those in the low identity threat condition. This finding and the lack of other predicted findings will be discussed in terms of theoretical and methodological implications.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
Neely, Ari, "Evaluations of group activism when faced With identity threat" (2021). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 514.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/514