Advances in Psychology Logo Advances in Psychology Logo
Research Article | Special Issue: Psychology of Pushback

Understanding public responses to counter-protests disrupting social change movements

Hema Preya Selvanathan ORCID, Matthew J. Hornsey ORCID, Jolanda Jetten ORCID, Xanthia E. Bourdaniotis ORCID, Melinda Hewett ORCID, & Rheaa Thulasi Manoharan
https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00049
Published: January 12, 2026
Copyright: The authors (CC BY 4.0)

Selvanathan, H.P., Hornsey, M.J., Jetten, J., Bourdaniotis, X.E., Hewett, M., & Manoharan, R.T. (2026). Understanding public responses to counter-protests disrupting social change movements. advances.in/psychology, 1, e648056. https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00049

Selvanathan, Hema Preya, et al. "Understanding public responses to counter-protests disrupting social change movements." advances.in/psychology, vol. 1, no. 1, 2026, e648056. https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00049.

Selvanathan, Hema Preya, Matthew J. Hornsey, Jolanda Jetten, Xanthia E. Bourdaniotis, Melinda Hewett, and Rheaa Thulasi Manoharan. 2026. "Understanding public responses to counter-protests disrupting social change movements." advances.in/psychology 1 (1): e648056. https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00049.

Selvanathan HP, Hornsey MJ, Jetten J, Bourdaniotis XE, Hewett M, Manoharan RT. Understanding public responses to counter-protests disrupting social change movements. advances.in/psychology. 2026;1(1):e648056. doi:10.56296/aip00049.

Selvanathan, H.P. et al. (2026) 'Understanding public responses to counter-protests disrupting social change movements', advances.in/psychology, 1(1), e648056. Available at: https://doi.org/10.56296/aip00049.

Download .RIS Download .bib
Protests advocating for progressive social change sometimes face opposition from counter-protests defending the status quo – but how do these clashes shape public opinion? In this research, we investigated whether and how counter-protests influence support for social change. We conducted five survey studies using correlational and experimental designs in different socio-political contexts: pro-democracy Hong Kong solidarity protests (Study 1: N = 311 students in Australia), Thai anti-monarchy protests (Study 2: N = 269 Thais), U.S. immigrant rights protests (Study 3: N = 381 U.S. Americans) and Australian environmental protests (Study 4A: N = 129 Australians, Study 4B: N = 268 Australians). Overall, we found evidence that social change protests disrupted by a violent counter-protest heightened concerns that the counter-protesters were suppressing the initial protesters’ expressions of free speech. This in turn was associated with greater sympathy towards protests for social change. Although counter-protests often aim to undermine a cause, our findings suggest their actions might ironically promote more public concern for social change protesters. This research has implications for understanding protest and counter-protest dynamics: it highlights the importance of considering public opinion beyond a single protest context and the role of public attitudes in driving social change.

No citation data available yet.

Download PDF Back to article