University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses July 2019 Public Attitudes Toward Collective Action: Three Social Psychological Investigations in Malaysia, the United States and Israel-Palestine Hema Preya Selvanathan University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Social Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Selvanathan, Hema Preya, "Public Attitudes Toward Collective Action: Three Social Psychological Investigations in Malaysia, the United States and Israel-Palestine" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations. 1629. https://doi.org/10.7275/14213495 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1629 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. 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PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD COLLECTIVE ACTION: THREE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MALAYSIA, THE UNITED STATES, AND ISRAEL-PALESTINE A Dissertation Presented by HEMA PREYA SELVANATHAN Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2019 Psychology © Copyright by Hema Preya Selvanathan 2019 All Rights Reserved PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD COLLECTIVE ACTION: THREE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MALAYSIA, THE UNITED STATES, AND ISRAEL-PALESTINE A Dissertation Presented by HEMA PREYA SELVANATHAN Approved as to style and content by: _____________________________ Brian Lickel, Chair _____________________________ Nilanjana Dasgupta, Member _____________________________ Tara Mandalaywala, Member _____________________________ Erica Scharrer, Member ____________________________________ Caren Rotello, Department Chair Psychological and Brain Sciences DEDICATION To ammachi, I wish I could share this with you. (Pushparani Kandiah, July 30th 1930 – January 2nd 2017) ABSTRACT PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD COLLECTIVE ACTION: THREE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MALAYSIA, THE UNITED STATES, AND ISRAEL-PALESTINE MAY 2019 HEMA PREYA SELVANATHAN, B.A., UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN EAU CLAIRE M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Brian Lickel Collective action often aims to elicit a response from the broader public. This dissertation presents three distinct but interrelated investigations on the societal outcomes of collective action among both high- and low- status groups in society, grounded in a range of social and political contexts. Chapter 1 provides an integrative literature review that identifies the motivation for the present research. Chapter 2 examined whether and how collective action organized by a social movement can shape the public’s subsequent attitudes toward the movement and its goals, in the context of the electoral reform Bersih movement in Malaysia. Chapter 3 investigated when and how public reactions to movements for social change can promote the rise of reactionary counter-movements to defend the status quo in the context of race relations in Malaysia and the United States. Chapter 4 examines whether distinct modes of ingroup identification and preferences for justice can shape public support for normative and non-normative collective action in the context of the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict. Chapter 5 concludes by discussing the overarching theoretical contributions and applied implications of studying the societal impact of social movements, as well as considering the limitations of the present research and future directions. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER .......................................................................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 The Social Psychology of Collective Action .................................................................. 3 The Impact of Collective Action on People’s Attitudes ................................................. 4 The Rise of Counter-Mobilization Against Social Change ............................................ 6 Public Support for Different Forms of Collective Action to Advance Ingroup Interests ........................................................................................................................... 9 Overview of Dissertation Content ................................................................................ 11 2. PUBLIC RESPONSE TO MASS PROTESTS ............................................................. 15 Public Attitudes Around Protests .................................................................................. 18 Reactions to Protests ..................................................................................................... 20 Empowerment ........................................................................................................... 22 Threat ........................................................................................................................ 23 The present research ..................................................................................................... 24 Method .......................................................................................................................... 25 Design ....................................................................................................................... 25 Results ........................................................................................................................... 31 Panel attrition ............................................................................................................ 31 Protest Reaction Variables: Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) .......................... 31 Changes Before and After the Protest ....................................................................... 33 Using Reactions to Protest as Predictors of Movement Identity and Support for Change ...................................................................................................................... 33 Reactions to Protest as Simultaneous Predictors of Movement Identity and Support for Social Change ................................................................................. 36 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 37 Limitations ................................................................................................................ 41 Future Directions ...................................................................................................... 42 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................. 42 Addendum: The Role of Race ....................................................................................... 43 Does Race Moderate Changes in Attitudes from Before to After the Protest? ........ 44 Does Race Moderate Empowerment and Threat Reactions to the Protest? .............. 45 Does Race Moderate the Extent to Which Reactions to the Protest Shape Subsequent Attitudes? ............................................................................................... 46 vi Bridge to Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................... 47 3. PSYCHOLOGICAL OWNERSHIP AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS ......................... 49 Psychological Ownership .............................................................................................. 51 Threat in Response to Social Change and the Rise of Reactionary Movements .......... 53 Overview of Studies ...................................................................................................... 55 Study 1 .......................................................................................................................... 56 Participants and Procedure ........................................................................................ 57 Results ....................................................................................................................... 58 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 61 Pilot Study ..................................................................................................................... 63 Participants and Procedure ........................................................................................ 63 Results and Discussion ............................................................................................. 64 Study 2 .......................................................................................................................... 64 Participants and Procedure .......................................................................................