Muslims and Non-Muslims: In Conflict or Harmony With Each Other? Conflict-Related Ingroup Norms Shape Threat Effects on Intergroup Behavioural Intentions

Threat increases ethnocentric motivation and can thus trigger hostile intergroup behaviour. However, ingroup norms–whether promoting conflict or positive intergroup relations–should moderate these effects, with positive (vs. conflict) norms reducing, eliminating, or even reversing intergroup hostility following threat. We tested this hypothesis in a series of survey studies and experiments with Muslim and non-Muslim samples in Germany (total N = 4106), focusing on hostile intergroup behaviour intentions. In two population surveys (Study 1a/b), the association between perceived outgroup-related threat and radical protest intentions was weaker among Muslim and non-Muslim participants with low conflict norm perception. In Study 2, salient threat to personal control (vs. no threat salient) reduced contact intentions towards Muslims in Christians but not in those who conceived of benevolence as a central Christian value. In Study 3, salient ingroup norms of inter-religious harmony fostered friendlier intentions towards non-Muslims among Muslims, reminded of threatened control. In Study 4, salient threat to control increased adherence to ingroup norms of intergroup respectfulness or conflict, albeit only for high identifiers. Together, the findings corroborate that threat does not inevitably fuel intergroup conflict but that threat effects can be shaped by ingroup norms of intergroup conflict or harmony. Please refer to the Supporting Information section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.