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Fickle Prosociality: How Violence against LGBTQ+ People Motivates Prosocial Mass Attitudes toward LGBTQ+ Group Members

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2024

MARCEL F. ROMAN Open the ORCID record for MARCEL F. ROMAN [Opens in a new window]  and
JACK THOMPSON Open the ORCID record for JACK THOMPSON [Opens in a new window]
MARCEL F. ROMAN*
Affiliation:
Harvard University, United States
JACK THOMPSON*
Affiliation:
University of Leeds, United Kingdom
*
Corresponding author: Marcel F. Roman, Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Harvard University, United States, [email protected].
Jack Thompson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Business School, University of Leeds, United Kingdom, [email protected].
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Abstract

We present a Fickle Prosocial Violence Response Model to explain how indirect exposure to civilian-perpetrated violence against marginalized minority groups motivates prosocial attitudes toward victimized groups. Although the mass public may not sympathize with marginalized groups, they may adopt prosocial attitudes toward marginalized groups subject to civilian-perpetrated violence if the violence is salient and perceptibly illegitimate. However, the adoption of prosocial attitudes may be fickle. We find evidence consistent with the model. Studies 1–3 show that high-profile violence against LGBTQ+ people increases support for LGBTQ+ rights and reduces negative attitudes toward LGBTQ+ group members. But, the adoption of prosocial attitudes is short-term. Study 4 shows that less salient violence against LGBTQ+ people may not engender prosocial attitudes at the outset. Our findings suggest that violent events must be sufficiently salient to initially motivate prosocial beliefs. Nevertheless, salient civilian-perpetrated violence against marginalized groups may not sustainably motivate prosocial beliefs toward targeted groups.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , First View , pp. 1 - 19
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Political Science Association

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