With modern societies becoming increasingly multicultural, growing numbers of people are regularly exposed to a diversity of cultural worldviews (Verkuyten, 2005, 2006, 2010). According to an influential social-psychological framework, Terror Management Theory (TMT; Greenberg et al., 1997), exposure to different worldviews can give rise to existential anxiety, and trigger defensive responses that are aimed at alleviating this anxiety. TMT thus seems highly relevant to the psychology of living in a multicultural society. Although TMT has been researched in hundreds of studies (for an extensive overview, see Solomon et al., 2015), the theory has been applied mostly to intergroup settings (Castano and Dechesne, 2005) international conflict (Pyszczynski et al., 2008) and multicultural issues in North America (Dupuis and Safdar, 2010; Bassett and Connelly, 2011; Motyl et al., 2011; Cohen et al., 2013). To date, however, only few studies have rarely tested the implications of TMT for living in a European multicultural society (Das et al., 2009). In the present article, we seek to fill this important gap, by examining the impact of existential concerns on multicultural attitudes among native Dutch people.

Inspired by existentialist writings (Kierkegaard, 1844/1957; Rank, 1941; Becker, 1973), TMT assumes that people's awareness of their mortality creates a potential for overwhelming terror, which is reduced by psychological defenses. One key psychological defense is formed by cultural views that offer a meaningful and orderly conception of the world. Consistent with this, many studies shown that experimentally reminding people of death leads them to defend their cultural worldviews more vigorously (for reviews, see Pyszczynski et al., 2015; Solomon et al., 2015). For instance, a frequently replicated finding is that, among American participants, mortality salience leads to greater liking of a foreign student who praises the USA and less liking for a foreign student who critiques the USA (e,g., Greenberg et al., 1990). Similar effects of mortality salience been observed in countries throughout the world, including Israel, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, Iran, and others (Greenberg et al., 2008; Burke et al., 2010).

Notably, mortality salience effects tend to be more pronounced among people who strongly identify with their cultural group (Castano et al., 2002), who presumably are most invested in their culture, self-reported high identifiers who were then reminded of their mortality perceived greater homogeneity in their in-group compared to the out-group, while low identifiers showed the opposite response (Castano and Yzerbyt, 1998). Thus, existential concerns also enhance the importance of one's in-group as an unconscious defense mechanism (Dechesne et al., 2000a,b; Castano et al., 2002; Castano, 2004). Moreover, in-group identification has been shown to mediate the mortality salience effect on measures of in-group bias (Castano et al., 2002), and in a recent study this was found to be the case only when self-esteem was not enhanced (Hohman and Hogg, 2015). Thus, in-group identification may serve the secondary function of indirect self-enhancement, namely by allowing people with low self-esteem to feel significant and valuable. In support of the latter idea, one study (Arndt et al., 2002) showed that people consistently distance themselves from their in-groups when such in-group identification may undermine their self-esteem. For instance, after reading about a Hispanic drug dealer, Hispanics who in the MS condition derogated a painting attributed to a Hispanic (but not an Anglo-American) artist and distanced themselves from the Hispanic artist as much as possible.

Mortality salience effects further tend to be attenuated among people with high (rather than low) self-esteem. This is presumably because self-esteem represents a source of existential security in addition to cultural worldviews that buffers people against the notion that their life is insignificant (e.g., Harmon-Jones et al., 1997). Consistent with this, affirming people's positive conceptions of the self has been found to lower the accessibility of thoughts of death, and defensive responding following death reminders (Schmeichel and Martens, 2005).

Originally, TMT was tested in relatively mono-cultural settings in which one culture was dominant and alternative cultures were only represented by non-permanent residents (e.g., foreign students in the US) or geographically distant cultures (e.g., international conflicts). In more recent years, however, a growing number of TMT studies have begun to address how TMT is potentially relevant to genuine multicultural settings in which people encounter others on a daily basis who have cultural beliefs and practices that differ from their own. For instance, one early study by Schimel et al. (1999) showed that mortality salience led Caucasian Americans to increase the stereotyping of African Americans. recently, Bassett and Connelly (2011) observed that mortality salience increased negative reactions toward illegal aliens among Americans. Motyl et al. (2011) investigated ways to mitigate the mortality salience effect on anti-Arab prejudice among Americans. They found that reminding people of widely shared human experiences reduced the negativity toward outgroups. Finally, a study by Dupuis and Safdar (2010) showed that mortality salience led to a greater desire for assimilation of (threatening aspects of) Arab-Muslim immigrants among Canadians.

The aforementioned research was largely conducted in a North-American context. A handful of recent studies have focused specifically on European multicultural contexts. Specifically, Weise et al. (2012) found in one study that immigrants were only derogated under MS by French participants who scored high on a measure of right-wing authoritarianism. Furthermore, a German study showed that participants exposed to terrorism pictures (vs. controls) had increased prejudice against both Muslims (Study 1) and immigrants (Study 2) only when they were led to believe that literal immortality does not exist, suggesting that the effect was mediated by death-related thoughts (Kastenmüller et al., 2011). Moreover, Das et al. (2009) observed that news about terrorism increased the accessibility of death-related thoughts among native Dutch, and this effect was associated with more anti-Arab prejudice. In a similar vein, Koole et al.(2014, Study 4) found that mortality salience led native Dutch people with low self-esteem to attribute more negative emotions to Muslims.

These studies provide initial evidence that existential concerns among native Dutch may lead to more negative attitudes multicultural society in North America and in Europe. Given the importance of multicultural attitudes, we wanted to learn more about the effects of mortality salience on multicultural attitudes in Europe. In particular, we designed the present studies to investigate the potential moderating role of national identity and self-esteem in the effects of mortality salience on multicultural attitudes among native Dutch people.

In two studies, we used a subtle questionnaire to experimentally manipulate the salience of existential concerns, a procedure that was used successfully in previous TMT research among Dutch adolescents (Koole et al., 2014). To ensure the personal relevance of the multicultural attitudes that we examined, we chose to focus on societal issues that were hotly debated in Dutch society at the time of data collection (the years 2013 and 2014). Specifically, Study 1 focused on tensions between native Dutch and Muslim, mostly Moroccan and Turkish, populations within Dutch society. We manipulated mortality salience and predicted that it would subsequently increase derogation of Muslims and immigrants among native Dutch participants with high national identification and low self-esteem.

Study 2 sought to provide a conceptual replication of this pattern in the context of support for “Sinterklaas,” a traditional Dutch festivity that has been recently critiqued for containing alleged racist elements. We predicted that mortality salience would increase support for Sinterklaas among native Dutch with high national identification and low self-esteem.

Study 1 investigated the effects of mortality salience on attitudes toward multiculturalism among native Dutch people with varying levels national identification and self-esteem. To obtain a comprehensive test, we used five different measures of opposition to multiculturalism. First, participants indicated their feelings of warmth toward Muslims as well as three control groups: atheists, Jews and Christians. Second, participants rated to what extent a typical Dutch person and a typical Muslim would be able to experience positive and negative emotions. Third, participants evaluated an anti-Dutch essay presumably written by an international student from Morocco, a Muslim-majority country from which many people recently migrated to the Netherlands. Fourth, participants rated statements assessing their acceptance of ethnic minorities in Dutch society. Fifth and last, participants rated statements assessing their acceptance of specifically Muslim immigrants in Dutch society. Across all these measures, we expected that mortality salience would lead to more negative attitudes toward Muslims and multiculturalism, especially among native Dutch participants with high (rather than low) national identification and low (rather than high) self-esteem.

In Study 2, we sought to conceptually replicate and extend our findings in Study 1. Instead of Dutch-Muslim relations, we shifted our focus to the relations between Dutch majority and Black minority members. At present, the Netherlands has a sizable ethnic Black subpopulation, many of which originate from its former colonies of Surinam and the Dutch Antilles. We investigated an issue that is highly meaningful in the contemporary Dutch-Black relations, namely the contested Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas. this issue provided a direct analog to the attitudes toward Muslims that were measured in Study 1. The celebration of “Sinterklaas” is held annually between November and December. This traditional Dutch children's festivity includes the folklore character called “Zwarte Piet” (“Black Pete”), who appears with blackface, afro hair, red lips, and golden hoop rings. This appearance has led some to conclude that Zwarte Piet must be a racist figure. Indeed, a recent United Nations committee that investigated Zwarte Piet called it “a return to slavery” (Bloem, 2013). Furthermore, in July 2014, a Dutch judicial ruling announced that Zwarte Piet was an offensive stereotype. In the wake of this ruling and the surrounding publicity, the traditional celebration of Sinterklaas has become increasingly protested. In the year of the study, for instance, 90 protesters were arrested during the ceremonial arrival of Sinterklaas (Iyengar, 2014).

The recent opposition to Zwarte Piet can be viewed as an attempt to end (or, at least, substantially alter) a quintessential Dutch tradition, and thus, symbolically, as an existential threat to Dutch culture. We therefore predicted that attitudes toward Zwarte Piet would display the same kind of interaction between mortality salience, national identification, and self-esteem, as in Study 1. Specifically, we predicted that mortality salience would lead to more positive attitudes toward Zwarte Piet among our native Dutch participants, especially those high on national identification and low on self-esteem. This part of Study 2 could thus be regarded as a conceptual replication of Study 1.

Though modern societies are becoming increasingly multicultural, multiculturalism continues to meet fierce opposition. The results of the present two studies suggest that at least some of the opposition to multiculturalism may be fueled by existential concerns. In Study 1, native Dutch who report high national identification and low self-esteem showed defensive derogation of immigrants and became less supportive of multiculturalism in response to heightened mortality salience. We found a similar effect pattern in Study 2, where mortality salience led native Dutch with low self-esteem and high national identification to become more supportive of a Dutch traditional feast that was contested by minority groups. Thus, native Dutch with high national identification and low self-esteem may use their nationality an as indirect way to gain a sense of esteem and significance (e.g., self-enhancement). These findings fit well with research showing that people may deal with existential concerns by joining and defending cultural groups that allow them to indirectly enhance their sense of self-worth and significance (see also Dechesne et al., 2000a; Arndt et al., 2002; Castano and Dechesne, 2005).

At the same time, our findings suggest that opposition to multiculturalism is not a universal response to mortality salience. First, mortality salience did not increase negative multicultural attitudes among people high in self-esteem in both of the present studies. Indeed, high self-esteem people even became more positive in their multicultural attitudes in Study 1. Although the latter effect was not replicated in Study 2, the overall pattern that we observed suggests that a sense of positive self-worth may provide substantial psychological protection against the existential anxiety that may arise from multicultural exchanges. Notably, other terror management research has shown that the anxiety-buffering effects of self-esteem do not only arise from dispositional self-esteem, but also from momentary boosts in state self-esteem (Greenberg et al., 1992b). Future research may examine if such momentary increases in self-esteem may also help to lower opposition to multiculturalism, especially under conditions of mortality salience.

The present research inevitably has limitations. First, even though the present studies were conducted in a behavioral laboratory, they focused on highly debated societal issues in a specific timeframe. This enhanced societal meaningfulness, but it also means that it may be difficult for future studies on the same or a similar topic to replicate this research. We also could not control changes in perceived and realistic threat caused by salient events in the Netherlands, such as the continuing increase in resistance to the Black Pete character as we conducted our studies². Second, our measures of national identification were administered at the end of the experimental session. This gives rise to the possibility that the measures were influenced in some way by mortality salience. Although our manipulation checks found no evidence for such an influence, it remains desirable to vary the timing of national identification measures in future research. Last, it should be acknowledged that the present studies had relatively small sample sizes. To obtain conclusive evidence for our observed three-way interaction effects, it will be necessary to conduct studies using substantially larger participant samples to find a medium effect size (see Wuensch, 2015, March 18).

In conclusion, the present research found that concerns about one's mortality and existential significance may foster resistance to multiculturalism. Given the universality of existential concerns, some amount of friction may be inevitable in multicultural societies. At the same time, the present findings provide some room for optimism. After all, our findings show that only about a quarter of our samples increased their opposition to multiculturalism under mortality salience, namely people with high national identification and low self-esteem. The overwhelming majority of our participants thus showed little or no increase in opposition to multiculturalism under heightened mortality salience. For achieving a less defensive stance to multiculturalism, a positive sense of self-worth appears to be the most vital psychological resource. Treating people with dignity and respect may thus create the optimal conditions for meeting the challenges of living in a multicultural society.

This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the VCWE ethical committee of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. All subjects gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The protocol was approved by the VCWE committee.

MT came up with the study concept; MT and SK designed the studies, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript before submission.