To Cancel or Not to Cancel. That Is the Question. The Role of Quest for Significance and Significance Loss in Cancel Culture

Abstract

The phenomenon of cancellation is gaining in social impact and significance in the last decade. There is significant research from political science about this topic, but little is yet known from a psychological perspective. The aim of the present research was to analyze how significance loss and personality traits might influence people’s attitudes in supporting or rejecting cancel culture attitudes and behaviors. In an experimental study with 122 Portuguese people (70.5% women, mean age: 28.59 years), significance levels were manipulated to test their impact on cancel culture support, controlling the influence of personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeability, neuroticism), and political orientation. RESULTS: Analyses showed that those identifying themselves are more left-wing oriented (β = -0.43; p < 0.001) and who experienced a higher quest for significance (β = 0.19; p = 0.017) were those more prone to support cancel culture attitudes and behaviors (R2 adjusted = 0.313; p = 0.005). Personality traits showed no significant impact on cancel culture, and neuroticism showed a significant one when considered alone (β = 0.18; p = 0.049; R2 adjusted = 0.024; p = 0.049). These findings provide an initial conceptualization of cancel culture from a psychological perspective, opening the door to socio-clinical intervention and prevention programs.