Social Psychology of Identity and Stereotyping in the Media

2021 ◽  
pp. 168-199
Author(s):  
Catherine Lido ◽  
Ariel Swyer ◽  
Leyla De Amicis
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Media Bias ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Identity Narratives ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Threat Theory

This chapter is focussed on how the media may influence societal attitudes and behaviours, particularly in their coverage of refugees and asylum seekers. Traditional social psychological approaches to concepts of identity, categorization, and prejudice are discussed, followed by a review of relevant current models, such as intergroup emotion theory, integrated threat theory, and the so-called BIAS map (Behaviours from Intergroup Affect and Stereotypes). It is proposed that refugees might receive greater warmth and increased perceptions of competence if they were reframed in the news not as stealing jobs but, rather, as future citizens, supporting their new countries of residence by doing necessary work and by creating new employment avenues. The chapter concludes with a proposal for five evidence-based strategies both for audiences to be more overtly aware of misleading media bias (e.g., the creation of ‘us versus them’ identity narratives) and for developing a more responsible journalism.

Controlling compassion: the media, refugees, and asylum seekers

2019 ◽  
pp. 275-294
Author(s):  
Pascale Allotey ◽  
Peter Mares ◽  
Daniel D. Reidpath
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Access To Care ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Policy Response ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
The Media ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

This chapter explains the influence of the media in controlling the discourse about humanitarianism, refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Changing responses to the arrival of several waves of refugees in Australia are used as an example. Media reporting has great power to shape public perceptions of these populations, and the result is often a populist policy response that also ultimately has an impact on access to care and services. In recent years the advent of social media such as Facebook and Twitter has also had a great impact, as exemplified by the almost instantaneous worldwide response to the image of a drowned Syrian child refugee in 2015.

scholarly journals Fear of Terrorism and Attitudes Toward Refugees: An Empirical Test of Group Threat Theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 001112872098189
Author(s):  
David De Coninck
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Multilevel Modelling ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Municipal Level ◽  
Threat Theory

In recent years, the co-occurrence of the migration crisis and terrorist attacks in European cities have created a strong link between refugees and asylum seekers and terrorism in the minds of many Europeans. This study investigates how attitudes toward refugees are associated with fear of terrorism. Using multilevel modelling on 1,500 Belgian citizens nested in 402 municipalities, results indicate that positive attitudes toward refugees are associated with lower terrorism fear. Adverse economic conditions at both the individual and municipal level are associated with greater fear of terrorism, while a large outgroup size is associated with lower fear of terrorism. Women hold greater fear than men, while commercial news consumption is associated with greater terrorism fears.

5. Perceptions and misperceptions about refugees

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-87
Author(s):  
Gil Loescher
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The Media ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

This chapter looks at perceptions and misperceptions about refugees, considering anti-refugee and anti-migrant rhetoric. The lived experiences of refugees and asylum seekers are often far removed from how they are represented in the media and public discourse. While it would be hard to generalize from these diverse experiences, the responses of states, the lack of international cooperation, and the limits of the global refugee system have fuelled many misperceptions about refugees. The chapter then discusses how restrictive policies affect all refugees. They can compound the challenges faced by particular categories of vulnerable refugees, such as women, children and adolescents, the elderly, refugees with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ community.

Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Emotions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Bleiker ◽  
David Campbell ◽  
Emma Hutchison
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Front Page ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Visual Framing ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

The issue of asylum seekers and refugees is one of the most contested political issues in Australia. This chapter examines ensuing debates, focusing closely on how refugees and asylum seekers are perceived and responded to in relation to the spatial and emotional dynamics that prevail in Australian society and politics. Specifically, the chapter examines how the issue of asylum is intimately connected to and influenced by highly emotional images circulating in the national media. To do this, the authors first discuss the history of refugees at Australia’s borders. In doing so, the authors underline the key role that political and media representations play in shaping refugee debates and policy. The chapter then undertakes an empirical investigation of two crucial recent periods when refugee debates proliferated in both the media and in politics: August to December 2001 and October 2009 to September 2011. By conducting a content analysis of front-page coverage in The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald, the authors focus on the particular visual framing that has been used to depict asylum seekers and its emotional and political consequences, highlighting how recurring frames have been used to dehumanize and further displace asylum seekers and refugees in the Australian context. The authors then argue that these visual media depictions associate refugees not with humanitarian challenges and responsibilities, but instead with threats to sovereignty and security.

The Role of Evaluative Tools in the Creation of the Memorial Media Portrait of Jacques Chirac (1932—2019)

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-110
Author(s):  
E. N. Mikhailova ◽  
V. A. Telegina
Keyword(s):  
Print Media ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Research Material ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Entire Text

The article is devoted to the study of evaluative tools used in modern French media in order to form the media image of a representative of the political elite. The techniques used in the creation of a memorial media portrait of Jacques Chirac (1932—2019), President of France from 1995 to 2007 are considered. The research material was the most prestigious French print media of various political orientations, published in late September — early October 2019 in connection with the death of the ex-President of the French Republic. The relevance of the research topic is dictated by the close attention of modern linguistics to axiological phenomena, differently presented in different types of discursive practices. The novelty of the study is due to the appeal to the analysis of the complex of evaluation tools used in the French print media when characterizing the former leader of the state during the nation’s farewell period. The estimated potential of the title of the article and its influence on the formation of the estimated vector of the entire text of the publication are shown. A systematic analysis of the assessment expression means, reflected in the memorial media portrait of the politician, is given. The factors that influenced the peculiarities of their use in this type of media portrait are revealed.

Overcoming the deficiency of refugee mental health research

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Kalfic ◽  
Glenn Mitchell ◽  
Lezanne Ooi ◽  
Sibylle Schwab ◽  
Natalie Matosin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Scientific Discovery ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Psychiatric Research ◽  
Risk And Resilience ◽  
Refugee Mental Health ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

The growing number of refugees and asylum seekers are one of the most significant global challenges of this generation. We are currently witnessing the highest level of displacement in history, with over 65 million displaced people in the world. Refugees and asylum seekers are at higher risk to develop mental illness due to their trauma and chronic stress exposures, and particularly post-migration stressors. Yet global and Australian psychiatric research in this area is greatly lacking, particularly with respect to our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of risk and resilience to mental illness in traumatised populations. In this Viewpoint, we explore the reasons behind the lack of refugee mental health research and use this context to propose new ways forward. We believe that scientific discovery performed with a multidisciplinary approach will provide the broad evidence-base required to improve refugee mental health. This will also allow us to work towards the removal of damaging policies that prolong and potentiate mental health deterioration among refugees and asylum seekers, which impacts not only on the individuals but also host countries’ social, economic and healthcare systems.

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