Moral disengagement is a process whereby the self-regulatory mechanisms that would otherwise sanction unethical conduct can be selectively disabled. The present research proposed that moral disengagement might be adopted in the endorsement of asylum seeker policies in Australia, and in order to test this, developed and validated a scale in two studies. Factor analysis demonstrated that a two-factor, 16-item structure had the best fit, and the construct validity of the scale was supported. Results provide evidence for the use of moral disengagement in the context of asylum seekers as a means of rationalizing conduct that may otherwise be sanctioned.

Over the past decade, a surge of right-wing populism has occurred across the globe. High populist votes have been found in regions experiencing economic challenges (especially following the financial crisis of 2007-2008), high unemployment rates, and rising immigrant populations. Examples are the Brexit vote of 2020 in the United Kingdom and the 2016 presidential election of Donald Trump, where populist rhetoric centered on immigration and multiculturalism and was used by conservative populist leaders in a bid to appeal to the people. The popular nationalism literature has argued that such rhetoric contributes to a climate of fear, where the ingroup perceives the "other" (the outgroup) as threatening, which in turn creates symbolic boundaries of national inclusion and exclusion.

The current research explored an analysis of popular nationalism in Australia, which proposed that symbolic boundaries of national inclusion and exclusion are based on perceptions of cultural threat to the nation and the national way of life. From this, we introduced the concept of right-wing protective popular nationalism (RWPPN), which concerns the desire to protect the dominant culture and way of life from outside cultural differences. This construct is based on a four-point interdisciplinary framework in which RWPPN is theoretically derived from political science and sociology, conceptually related to social psychology constructs, and contextually related to contemporary political and societal phenomena. RWPPN is theorised to originate in and be strengthened by right-wing populist rhetoric and is measured as an individual differences variable reflecting the individual's desire to protect a particular way of life.

We conducted four studies that were reported in two journal articles and a book chapter. Studies 1 and 2 operationalised RWPPN as a social psychological construct and generated a new psychometric tool, the RWPPN Scale, which measures this novel construct. These two studies found preliminary evidence of RWPPN in a general sample of the Australian population and provided validation for the RWPPN Scale. As hypothesised, RWPPN related to established social psychological constructs, including symbolic threat, social dominance orientation (SDO), and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). The results found support for RWPPN as a unique construct. RWPPN was also related to national identity, opposition to multiculturalism, prejudice, and negativity towards ethnic minorities living in Australia (emotional responses of fear, anger, and aggressive tendencies). In Study 2, the effects of RWPPN on aggressive tendencies held when controlling for SDO and RWA. RWPPN also mediated the relationship between RWA and aggressive tendencies.

Study 3 offered theoretical advances regarding the connections between RWPPN and conservative populism in Australia. Using audience segmentation, this study demonstrated that a population could be segmented into groups that varied in their level of RWPPN and a range of psychological profiling variables that relate to right-wing populism. The results suggested that RWPPN is associated with notions of national identity, negative consequences for ethnic minorities living in Australia, and a preference for monoculturalism. Given the multicultural nature of Australian society, these findings suggested that prevalent high RWPPN would have negative consequences for social cohesion.

Study 4 extended the findings of the previous studies regarding the relationship between RWPPN and aggressive tendencies towards ethnic minorities living in Australia by exploring the moderating effects of RWPPN on aggressive tendencies. A series of multiple regression analyses found that RWPPN predicted aggressive tendencies towards ethnic minority groups living in Australia. Furthermore, RWPPN moderated the effects of nationally related variables (collective narcissism, identity fusion, and threat perceptions) on these aggressive tendencies.

This research program provides preliminary evidence for RWPPN as a novel social psychological construct in contemporary Australian society. The results indicate that high RWPPN sentiment is associated with an exclusive sense of national belonging and opposition to multiculturism and predicts negative outcomes for ethnic minority groups living in Australia, including aggressive tendencies towards them. Future research is required to test the causal connections between RWPPN sentiment and political populist rhetoric and ascertain if RWPPN sentiment is present outside Australia. These future directions are important and necessary as the current research suggests that RWPPN can shed light on the implications and consequences for intergroup dynamics of desiring to protect the national culture and way of life.

We conceptualized and developed a measure of right-wing protective popular nationalism (RWPPN) – a specific form of popular nationalism where people seek to protect the national culture from outgroup influences. RWPPN is derived from a sociological analysis of right-wing popular nationalism in Australia and is theoretically related to several key psychological constructs, including right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and symbolic threat. We conducted two surveys using nationally representative samples of Australian citizens. In study 1 (n = 657), participants completed measures of RWPPN and related constructs. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis resulted in a 10-item scale. Construct validity was tested and confirmed across divergent, convergent, predictive, and concurrent validation domains. Additional convergent validation with RWA and SDO was tested in study 2 (n = 316). Together, RWPPN was found to relate to expressions of national identity, prejudice, perceived outgroup threat, opposition to multiculturalism, and aggressive tendencies toward ethnic minorities. These effects remained significant when controlling for nationalism (measured as a concern for national superiority) and blind patriotism. In study 2, the effect on aggressive tendencies held when controlling for RWA and SDO and RWPPN mediated the relationship between RWA and aggressive tendencies. Reflecting the conservative nature of Australian popular nationalism, RWPPN correlated with right-wing political alignment. The research was conducted in Australia, but given the rise in right-wing populism internationally, RWPPN may be a phenomenon in other countries. Therefore, this paper offers a new construct and scale to investigate it in Australia and internationally.

Asylum seekers face unique forms of prejudice and negative attitudes in industrialised countries, and are frequently viewed with suspicion and hostility. Depictions of asylum seekers as amoral and uncivilised can promote perceptions that they are less than fully human. This humanness denial can lead to a range of negative outcomes, such as the rationalisation of poor treatment and hard-line policies, and lack of concern or disengagement from their suffering. The present research systematically investigated how an individual's values or morals may relate to these perceptions of asylum seekers as comparatively more animal-like or less human, and drew on a range of well-established theories in these areas. The first chapter reviews theories and previous research that create a foundation for the project. The results of empirical investigations of the research questions that arise from this foundation are reported in journal article form comprising studies reported in Chapters 2 to 5. The final chapter presents an overall integration of the findings generated by the project with theoretical foundations and previous empirical findings.

The dataset consists of two parts. Both parts are SPSS de-identified datasets obtained from online surveys. The first data set (labeled 1.1.0_data), downloaded from Qualtrics 16/03/2015 corresponds to the survey titled “Toward a new measure of Nationalism: Capturing Contemporary Australian Attitudes”. This data set comprises the raw data that was subsequently used for Study 1 and Study 3 data analyses. The second data set (labeled 2.1.0_data), downloaded from Qualtrics 09/10/2017 corresponds to the survey titled “The Australian national flag and national identity”. This data set comprises the raw data that was subsequently used for Study 2 and Study 4 data analyses.