The Role of COVID-19 in Anti-Asian Prejudice

Abstract

Terror management theory (TMT; Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986) states that reminders of death create the potential for anxiety, but a way to keep this anxiety managed is through cultural worldviews, self-esteem, and relationships. Cultural worldviews, like religion or political beliefs, involve having shared beliefs about reality that can provide a basis for self-esteem and a sense of immortality. TMT research demonstrates that reminders of death increase support for one’s own worldview and hostility toward those with differing worldviews. For example, Germans reminded of death strongly preferred German products over foreign ones (Jonas et al., 2005). Reminders of death increase ingroup preference which increases one’s sense of personal and group value. Recently the COVID-19 virus has caused both an increase in death reminders and prejudice, specifically anti-Asian prejudice due to stereotyped connections made between the virus and its origin in China. Comments tweeted by former President Trump calling COVID-19 the ‘Chinese Virus’ provide fuel for this prejudice. The present study investigates whether statements regarding the Chinese origination of COVID-19 heighten anti-Asian prejudice following reminders of death. To do this, half of the participants are reminded of their own death, while the other half are reminded of a control topic. Participants also read about the Chinese origin of COVID-19 or an article about COVID-19 that doesn’t mention the origin of the virus. For the dependent variable, participants complete a measure of anti-Asian prejudice. The hypothesis for this study is that reminders of death will heighten anti-Asian prejudice for those participants who read the article mentioning the Chinese origin of COVID-19 compared to those not reminded of death or the Chinese origin of COVID-19. The results of this study will help us to better understand the causes and consequences of prejudice.

Details

Session 1

11:15am – 12:30pm

Del Norte Hall

Room C: 1535