Solidarity-based collective action among third parties: The role of emotion regulation and moral outrage

Societal injustice can trigger moral outrage, an important predictor of solidarity-based collective action (CA). The present work investigated whether the impact of emotion regulation strategies on feelings of moral outrage shapes solidarity-based CA intentions in the context of two recent examples of environmental injustice—water crises of 2015–2016 and 2021 in Flint, Michigan, and Benton Harbor, Michigan. Three studies investigated the effect of engaging in distancing compared with immersion when processing information about the events on feelings of moral outrage among people who did not live in either city. The studies also investigated the downstream effect of moral outrage on people's willingness to engage in CA in solidarity with those affected. Processing the injustice by engaging in distancing compared with immersion resulted in less moral outrage, which reduced interest in engaging in CA. This research highlights the important role of emotion regulation strategies in influencing solidarity-based collective action among people not directly targeted by an injustice.