Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

9-2-2026

Abstract

Civic engagement (i.e., voting and volunteering) can be a way to cope with threatening circumstances. However, people experiencing threat may also be interested in guns. Previous correlational research shows that experiencing status threat, the perception that one’s in-group may lose power, relates to more interest in guns than civic engagement. The present research will test a causal connection. We designed a manipulation where, in the civic engagement condition, participants found their local representatives’ contact information and wrote about an issue they were passionate about. In the control condition, participants found the menu of the restaurant where they most recently ate and described its physical surroundings. Pilot data showed that people felt more civically engaged in the civic engagement condition (M=3.78; SD=1.20) than the control (M=3.28; SD=1.15; t(92)=2.081, p=.040). In the full study, after the civic engagement manipulation, participants (Nexpected = 779) will answer measures on civic engagement interest, gun interest, and status threat. We expect lower gun interest for participants in the civic engagement condition compared to the control.

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