Mortality salience and prejudice towards ethnoreligion minorities: Results and implications of a Nigerian study

Ezeh, Valentine C. and Mefoh, Philip C. and Nwonyi, Sampson Kelechi and Aliche, Joseph C. (2017) Mortality salience and prejudice towards ethnoreligion minorities: Results and implications of a Nigerian study. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 27 (5). pp. 420-426. ISSN 1815-5626

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Abstract

Mortality salience (MS), or the view that people have increased awareness of own cultural views with annihilation threat (Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2004), has been demonstrated in high prejudice settings (Cohen, Soenke, Solomon, & Greenberg, 2013) For instance, MS induction led to an increased support for martyrdom attacks against Americans among young Iranians, and increased support for extreme military actions by American forces in the Middle East among young Americans (Pyszczynski, Abdollahi, Solomon, Greenberg, Cohen, & Weise, 2006) Terror management theory (TMT: Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1990) proposes that human group self-preservation instincts call for necessary adaptive abilities; and particularly so within helplessness or ultimate mortality situations The awareness of likely mortality from group persecution exposes the individual to a paralysing terror or anxiety MS risk for an outer group is higher with prejudice against them Prejudice is a positive or negative (although, mostly negative) evaluation of another person based on their perceived group membership (Davidio & Gaertner, 2010) It is a learned attitude towards a target object that typically involves negative affect, dislike, or fear with a set of negative beliefs that support the attitude and a behavioural intention to avoid, to control, or dominate, those in the target group (Zimbardo & Leippe, 1991) One of the ways that people facing genocide may adopt to enhance their chances of survival is by boosting their cultural self-esteem (Solomon et al , 2004) and managing their proximate distance from their would be exterminators This study sought to examine whether MS predicts ethno-cultural prejudice in a Nigerian setting in various proximate distance relationship situations The Nigerian-Ethno-religion Context In the Nigerian setting, actual and perceived clashes of cultural and religious values between the Hausas and the Igbos are particularly important when existential threats become salient The Igbos and Hausas are two of the three

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Divisions:	Faculty of Management and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	mrs chioma hannah
Date Deposited:	24 Apr 2019 10:39
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2019 10:39
URI:	http://eprints.gouni.edu.ng/id/eprint/1216

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