Glorifying national identification increases schadenfreude about asylum seekers when they are a threat, not entitled to seek asylum, and blamed for their adversity

The purpose of the current research is to explore how mode of identification (glorification versus attachment) results in either schadenfreude “with a bad conscience” (S-BC) about disadvantaged people, or prosocial emotional responses (sympathy and guilt) towards them through appraisals of entitlement, realistic threat, and blame. These relationships were investigated amongst Australians (N = 213) and Romanians (N = 210) in relation to the treatment of asylum seekers in detention centres in those two countries. Consistent with hypotheses, Australian glorifying identifiers considered asylum seekers to be a threat to well-being and to not be entitled to seek asylum. Asylum seekers were therefore blamed for their situation in detention centres and this enhanced group-based S-BC. Very different findings were observed for attached identifiers who expressed group-based sympathy and guilt towards asylum seekers. Similar pathways were observed in the Romanian sample except for the role of entitlement. Moreover, S-BC and related constructs were relatively strong in the Australian sample. The findings are important because they point to the foundations of group-based S-BC. Findings are discussed in relation to the current scale of the global refugee crisis.