The psychology of social change and backlash: Examining contemporary social issues for insights on attitudes, identity, and behavior

Abstract

Social progress in the United States does not follow a smooth linear trajectory, but rather is fraught with victories toward justice often followed by swift social backlash toward injustice. This dissertation introduces a broad framework for understanding the psychology of social change and backlash by drawing from perspectives in social psychology. Social change is conceptualized as perceived changes to the social hierarchy, which can in turn threaten individuals’ status or desire to maintain the status quo. This dissertation focuses on three recent examples of social change and corresponding backlash that span different sources of social change (e.g., self-made change like activism, institutional change, and visibility change) as well as different issues (sexual violence against women, women’s rights, and prejudice toward transgender people). Paper 1 provides evidence that online activism (self-made change) may morally credential people, which is then associated with less subsequent activism, suggesting that at the individual-level, people may personally instigate social change only to subsequently disengage from further action shortly after. Paper 2 reveals that Hillary Clinton supporters affirmed their various social and political identities after her defeat in the 2016 US Presidential Election (institutional change), providing evidence that a perceived threat to one’s status is combated with a shift in identity, which may heighten polarization at the societal level. Finally, Paper 3 investigates whether psychological essentialism is a causal predictor of prejudice toward transgender people, a group that has recently received significant media and political coverage (change in visibility). Together, this dissertation provides unique insight into the psychology of perceived social change in real-time, and suggests social change may often be met with backlash out of people’s desires to protect their own status and preserve the status quo.