When Fear Breeds Division: How Perceived Threats Increase Negative Attitudes Towards People With Opposing Opinions

ABSTRACT Previous research has examined how people with different ideological positions develop negative attitudes towards each other in threatening situations. However, there remains limited understanding of these dynamics in non‐Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) populations, particularly regarding the psychological processes that drive negative attitudes between individuals with opposing views on specific issues rather than broad political identities. Through four empirical studies, we examined the manifestation of negative attitudes among people with opposing opinions when exposed to threat and the mediating role of personal control. All samples were from mainland China. Study 1 found a significant increase in negative attitudes between people with opposing opinions after the COVID‐19 outbreak by analysing social media messages. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 by manipulating participants’ threat perceptions through reading news reports about COVID‐19. Study 3 used a survey to show that threat perception predicted negative attitudes, which was mediated by personal control. Study 4 manipulated threat perceptions in a different way (i.e., nuclear contamination), replicating these results. These results provide new insights into understanding the psychological processes underlying how people with opposing views become polarized during threatening situations.