Framing COVID-19 as an Existential Threat Predicts Anxious Arousal and Prejudice towards Chinese People

We tested the hypothesis that perceived existential threat of COVID-19 elicits anxious arousal, which can manifest in prejudice toward the perceived source of the threat (Chinese people). Americans (n = 474) were randomly assigned to an experimental condition in which COVID-19 was framed as an existential threat to the United States or a non-existential threat control condition. They then completed self-report measures of anxious arousal and blatant prejudice towards Chinese people. As expected, participants in the threat (vs. control) condition reported greater anxious arousal which, in turn, predicted greater blatant prejudice. Threat (vs. control) condition also indirectly predicted greater prejudice via greater anxious arousal. Results suggest that COVID-19 existential threat may diminish social capital, which would further degrade people’s health and well-being.