Community-level diversity decreases right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation by alleviating dangerous and competitive worldviews: Multilevel and longitudinal tests of the Dual Process Model

Abstract

Although living in diverse communities can affect socio-political views, studies rarely—if ever—assess mediators of the relationship between macro-level diversity and individual-level intergroup attitudes. According to the Dual Process Model of Ideology and Prejudice, community-level diversity should correlate negatively with right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) by reducing dangerous and competitive worldviews, respectively. Study 1 examined these hypotheses using a nationwide random sample of New Zealand Europeans (N = 11,007) nested in 254 communities. As hypothesised, community-level diversity had specific negative indirect effects on between-level variability in RWA and SDO via reductions in dangerous and competitive worldviews, respectively. Study 2 pursued a longitudinal follow-up (N = 9,355) and showed that dangerous and competitive worldviews predicted increases in RWA and SDO (respectively) a year later. Collectively, these results demonstrate that living in diverse communities can improve intergroup attitudes by reducing perceptions that the world is a dangerous and competitive place.