We aim to explain the dynamics enabling spikes in hate crimes by examining the underlying social-psychological processes behind it. We see these as captured in empowerment processes among racists who see themselves as “victims” and their position strengthened by majority support from the public for their actions. Building on previous research, we investigated the role social norm misperception (false consensus and pluralistic ignorance), following elections plays as a possible, generally occurring mechanism, with particular focus on Republican Party supporters. In a two-wave panel study, we surveyed Democrat and Republican supporters on social norms misperception, as well as collective empowerment, and xenophobic behavioral intentions. While we could replicate and strengthen our arguments and establish robust group-dependent effects for social norms misperception and illustrate that an unexpected outcome of the election led to disempowerment among Republicans, we found null effects for changes in social norms misperception, and behavioral intentions. Our study contributes to understanding social norms misperception as associated with group membership. Deriving from that, the study results indicate that the perception of a majority agreeing with one's approval is potentially less influenced by external factors, in contrast to feelings of joy and group efficacy—collective empowerment. Practical implications of group differences regarding post-election collective actions are discussed.

中文翻译：

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2020年美国总统大选选民对社会规范的误解

我们旨在通过研究其背后的潜在社会心理过程来解释导致仇恨犯罪激增的动态。我们认为这些体现在种族主义者的赋权过程中，他们将自己视为“受害者”，公众对其行动的多数支持加强了他们的立场。在先前研究的基础上，我们调查了社会规范误解（错误共识和多元无知）的作用，选举作为一种可能的、普遍发生的机制，特别关注共和党支持者。在一项两波小组研究中，我们就社会规范误解、集体赋权和仇外行为意图对民主党和共和党支持者进行了调查。虽然我们可以复制和加强我们的论点，并为社会规范误解建立强大的群体依赖效应，并说明选举的意外结果导致共和党人失去权力，但我们发现对社会规范误解和行为意图的变化没有任何影响。我们的研究有助于理解与群体成员相关的社会规范误解。由此得出，研究结果表明，与喜悦感和集体效能感（集体赋权）相比，大多数人同意一个人的认可的看法可能较少受到外部因素的影响。讨论了关于选举后集体行动的群体差异的实际影响。