Whoever is not with me is against me: The “moderate as out-group” effect.

= 3,272), we show that people holding a partisan view on a sociopolitical issue perceive moderates (i.e., people disclosing a genuinely nonextreme position) as belonging to the out-group ideology. We find that the "moderate as out-group" effect occurs when sociopolitical issues are moralized and, at the same time, the opposing side is perceived to be a threat to oneself, close ones, or society at large. We also present evidence that the effect is due to partisans' perception that moderates lack out-group hate, rather than lack in-group love. In other words, partisans perceive that moderates agree with-or simply do not condemn-the opposing (immoral and threatening) ideology, rather than disagree with their own. Consistent with this, the "moderate as out-group" effect occurs when the moderate view is framed as pro-both sides, but it is attenuated when it is framed as pro-neither side. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).