Pandemic threat and group cohesion: national identification in the wake of COVID-19 is associated with authoritarianism

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Abstract

Authoritarianism emerges in times of societal threat, in part driven by desires for group-based security. As such, we propose that the threat caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increased authoritarian tendencies and that this can be partially explained by increased national identification. We tested this hypothesis by collecting cross-sectional data from three different countries in April 2020. In Study 1, data from Ireland (N = 1276) showed that pandemic threat predicted increased national identification, which in turn predicted authoritarianism. In Study 2, we replicated this indirect effect in a representative UK sample (N = 506). In Study 3, we used an alternative measure of authoritarianism and conceptually replicated this effect among USA citizens (N = 429). In this US sample, the association between threat and authoritarian tendencies was stronger among progressives compared to conservatives. Findings are discussed and linked to group-based models of authoritarianism.

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Maher, P. J., Roth, J., Griffin, S., Foran, A. M., Jay, S., McHugh, C., … Muldoon, O. T. (2023). Pandemic threat and group cohesion: national identification in the wake of COVID-19 is associated with authoritarianism. Journal of Social Psychology, 163(6), 789–805. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2021.2024122

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