Adopting strict political views actually makes you see everyone as more threatening, rather than the other way around.
This flips the standard psychological explanation of prejudice. Instead of a 'realistic threat' causing people to want stricter laws, the data suggests that once people adopt a strict policy stance, they subconsciously start seeing the group in question as more dangerous to maintain internal consistency.
How Migration Attitudes Harden: Longitudinal Trajectories of Support for Migration Restrictions in a Rapidly Diversifying Society
PsyArXiv · cvhmw_v1
This study examines the rise in restrictive attitudes towards migration in Chile, where the migrant population has grown from 4% to nearly 9% in seven years. Using five waves (2018–2023) of the nationally representative ELSOC panel (N = 2,214), it analyzes both between- and within-person changes in migration attitudes. We document a sharp increase in support for migration restrictions between 2018 and 2023, identifying three longitudinal trajectories through latent class growth analysis: consist