A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing? The Interplay of Perceived Social Norms and Threat In Hierarchy-Maintaining Action Tendencies Towards Disadvantaged Groups

Authors:

Abstract: Helping as a concept inherently entails unequal power relations, as the help provider has resources that the help recipient does not have. Thus, helping can lead to a maintenance of power relations, especially when helping is offered in a dependency-oriented manner (help that makes the recipient dependent on continued help instead of providing the option to help themselves tools, i.e., autonomy-oriented help). We propose that perceived norms to help the disadvantaged group impact the degree these seemingly different action tendencies are displayed. Concretely, we hypothesize that people who feel threatened by the disadvantaged group but perceive strong norms to help the group would opt for dependency-oriented help, because it allows them to follow the norms in their environment but also satisfy their underlying motivation to maintain hierarchy due to the perceived threat. Data from two correlational studies conducted in Germany and Israel (combined n = 823), show that dependency-oriented help towards refugees is higher when participants perceive strong norms but feel threatened at the same time. This interaction was not visible for autonomy-oriented help. Study 3 (n = 365) aimed to extend the findings to a different intergroup setting and shows that Jewish Israelis indicate higher intention to offer dependency-oriented help to Arab Israelis when there is a high threat and strong norms perceptions (in contrast to weak norms). In a fourth study, we conducted an experiment in the US (n = 293), with the goal to impact autonomy-oriented helping. We found that creating interdependence between citizens and people migrating to the country led participants to show less negative emotions (including threat) towards illegal immigrants, and more autonomy-oriented help, compared to a control group. The results have theoretical and practical implications for initiatives that can increase social equality in the especially relevant area of intergroup helping relations.

Track: DEI

Keywords: social norms, threat, helping behavior, dependency-oriented helping, discrimination, refugees, disadvantaged group, social inequality