Replication data for: The Better Angels of Our Nature: How the Anti-Prejudice Norm Affects Policy and Party Preferences in Great Britain and Germany

Existing research on public opinion related to race and immigration politics emphasizes the role of prejudice or bias against minority groups. We argue that the social norm against prejudice, and individual motivations to comply with it, are crucial elements omitted from prior analyses. In most contemporary Western societies, citizens receive repeated, strong signals that prejudice is not socially or normatively acceptable. We demonstrate that many majority-group citizens have internalized a motivation to control prejudiced thoughts and actions, and that this motivation influences their political behavior in predictable ways. We introduce measures to capture this motivation, develop hypotheses about its influence, and test these hypotheses in three separate experimental and non-experimental survey studies conducted in Great Britain and Germany. Our findings support a dual process model of political behavior suggesting that while many voters harbor negative stereotypes, they also strive to act in accordance with the “better angels of their natures.”