The Pandemic–Prejudice Link: Young Adults’ Feelings about Refugees amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction 

Since March 2020 when the World Health Organization (WHO)1 announced the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has been in a state of emergency, with immense impacts on personal and public health and the economy. Yet, beyond more salient outcomes that can be expressed as concrete numbers reflecting infections, morality rates, and economic markers, the COVID-19 outbreak has also led to less visible and more latent changes that are yet to be investigated and understood. The evolving social cohesion within societies is one of these outcomes. There is a vast literature on how the perception of threat and uncertainty may trigger shifts in how people view, define, and identify themselves. The perception of threats and uncertainty were proven to enhance individuals’ social identities, meaning that their feelings of belongingness to several social groups (e.g., national, ethnic, religious) turn more salient under these conditions.2 Such identification with social groups serves as a means to compensate for feelings of uncertainty and helps to restore feelings of safety and security.3 Yet, there are differences in how inclusive different forms of social identities are, with implications for who is considered an in-group member (i.e., someone who is viewed to be on the same side) and who is not. For instance, depending on different situational demands, an individual may strongly identify as a member of a particular occupational, regional, national, ethnic, ideological, or religious group—or simply with all humanity. Notably, identification with all humanity can be considered as a very broad and inclusive way of social identification that has been shown to promote more favorable views of others, to be associated with lower levels of discrimination,4 and to promote prosocial behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak.