People can display negative reactions towards those who challenge their sense of psychological ownership. We tested whether natives would show negativity towards refugees upon perceiving collective ownership threat (COT)—the fear of losing control over a territory that is perceived to be “ours”—in the context of mass immigration (Syrian refugees in Turkey; total N = 1,598). Correlational Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated COT to be associated with intolerance and negative reactions towards refugees through negative intergroup emotions (anger specifically). Preregistered experimental studies demonstrated that while there was no causal effect of COT in neighborhoods with relatively high refugee concentration (Study 3a), COT decreased outgroup tolerance and increased defensive reactions towards Syrian refugees via outgroup anger among a more general community sample (Study 3b). The wider intergroup implications of the fear of losing one’s sense of territorial ownership are discussed.

人们会对那些挑战他们的心理归属感的人表现出负面反应。我们测试了在大规模移民的背景下，当地人是否会在感知到集体所有权威胁（COT）时对难民表现出消极态度——害怕失去对被认为是“我们的”领土的控制权——在土耳其的叙利亚难民；总共N= 1,598)。相关研究 1 和 2 表明，COT 与通过负面的群体间情绪（特别是愤怒）对难民的不容忍和负面反应有关。预先注册的实验研究表明，虽然在难民集中度相对较高的社区中，COT 没有因果关系（研究 3a），但在更普遍的社区样本中，COT 降低了外群体的容忍度，并通过外群体的愤怒增加了对叙利亚难民的防御反应（研究 3b）。讨论了害怕失去领土归属感的更广泛的群体间影响。