Exposure to religious outgroup symbols and intergroup anxiety in Israel

Israel is often at the centre of debate regarding religious diversity. We examined how exposure to religious symbols is associated with intergroup anxiety perceived from the Jewish majority among Arab minority groups. We found that outgroup and ingroup priming had different consequences for the two Arab groups: when primed with outgroup Jewish concepts, Arab-Muslim persons reported higher intergroup anxiety than Arab-Christian participants. However, when primed with ingroup concepts, the two minority groups did not differ significantly in intergroup anxiety experienced in interactions with Jews. Our results convey the importance of investigating why and when religious diversity may have a negative impact on intergroup relations.