Outgroup threat, ideology, and favorable evaluations of the government’s responses to COVID-19

Based on social psychological theories of intergroup relations, perceptions of threat from outgroups contribute to ingroup favoritism. This research examined the effects of the perceived threat from outgroups (the US) on Chinese people’s favorable evaluations of their government’s responses to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Study 1 conducted an experiment and found that the US’ criticism of China’s responses to the pandemic increased Chinese citizens’ favorable evaluations of the government’s performance. Study 2 was a correlational design and found that the relationship between perceptions of outgroup threats and evaluations of the government’s performance was moderated by ideology and the approval of lockdown policies. These results show that outgroups are sophisticatedly employed by politicians to increase ingroup favoritism and suggest that ideological divide is an important moderator in the association between outgroup threat and the evaluation of ingroup.