Is negative mass media news always associated with outgroup prejudice? The buffering role of direct contact

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Fuochi ◽  
Alberto Voci ◽  
Chiara A. Veneziani ◽  
Jessica Boin ◽  
Benjamin Fell ◽  
...  

We examined the association of the combination of direct intergroup contact and mass media news with attitudes toward immigrants and gay people in Italy, hypothesizing that direct intergroup contact would buffer the negative association between media news and attitudes, but only when contact was intimate or positive. Measuring contact variables and attitudes toward immigrants (Study 1, N = 428; Study 2, N = 426) and gay men and women (Study 3, N = 220), we found that intimate and positive direct intergroup contact was associated with more positive attitudes toward outgroup members, whereas exposure to negative news was related to more negative attitudes. Moreover, our results supported the buffering hypothesis, as the negative association between negative news and intergroup attitudes was significantly weaker amongst respondents with higher levels of intimate and positive intergroup contact.

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoon Jung Park

Abstract:Increasing numbers of Chinese migrants have arrived in southern Africa over the past two decades. Perceptions of and reactions to the Chinese, however, vary from country to country and within countries. This article, based on several years of field and survey research, examines perceptions of Chinese in South Africa and Lesotho. The author argues that in addition to the global context, national political and economic realities, history, and memory shape local perceptions of China and the Chinese people who now reside in these spaces. States and other political actors play a key role in constructions of foreigners. Competition, whether real or perceived, is also important in shaping negative attitudes toward migrants. However, personal interactions and memories can serve as mitigating factors, even in the face of negative news of China or Chinese activities.


Author(s):  
Victoria M. Esses ◽  
Alina Sutter ◽  
Joanie Bouchard ◽  
Kate H. Choi ◽  
Patrick Denice

Using a cross-national representative survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we examine predictors of attitudes toward immigrants and immigration in Canada and the United States, including general and COVID-related nationalism, patriotism, and perceived personal and national economic and health threats. In both countries, nationalism, particularly COVID-related nationalism, predicted perceptions that immigration levels were too high and negative attitudes toward immigrants. Patriotism predicted negative immigration attitudes in the United States but not in Canada, where support for immigration and multiculturalism are part of national identity. Conversely, personal and national economic threat predicted negative immigration attitudes in Canada more than in the United States. In both countries, national health threat predicted more favorable views of immigration levels and attitudes toward immigrants, perhaps because many immigrants have provided frontline health care during the pandemic. Country-level cognition in context drives immigration attitudes and informs strategies for supporting more positive views of immigrants and immigration.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Dipti Govil ◽  
Nidhi Khosla

Abstract Couple-level reports of contraceptive use are important as wives and husbands may report their use differently. Using matched couple data (N = 63,060) from India’s NFHS-4 (2015–16), this study examined concordance in spousal reports of current contraceptive use and its differentials. Reporting of contraceptive use was higher among wives (59.0%) than husbands (25.2%). Concordance was low; 16.5% of couples reported the current use of the same method, while 20.4% reported the current use of any method. Many husbands did not report female sterilization as a means of contraception being used by their wives. Reconstruction of contraceptive use among men, based on the ‘ever-use of sterilization’ question asked to men, increased concordance by 10%. Multivariate analyses showed that concordance was low in urban and southern India, among younger women and among women with a lower wealth index. Men’s control over household decision-making and negative attitudes towards contraception were associated with lower concordance. The findings highlight the importance of using couple-level data to estimate contraceptive prevalence, and the role of education programmes to inculcate positive attitudes towards contraception, fostering gender equality and involving men in family planning efforts. The results also raise the issue of data quality as the survey questions were asked differently to men and women, which might have contributed to the wide observed discordance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 290-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily F. Wood ◽  
Monica K. Miller

Purpose The number of immigrants in the USA has increased steadily in recent decades. Two studies investigated individual differences that relate to attitudes toward immigrants in student and community samples. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach US university students and a community sampler were surveyed. Findings In both samples, higher scores on attributional complexity were associated with more positive attitudes toward immigrants and individuals who make dispositional attributions for the causes of crime and/or who are higher in faith in intuition tended to have more negative attitudes. Political orientation was a significant predictor in both samples; being more liberal and identifying as a Democrat compared to a Republican was related to more positive attitudes. Higher need for cognition scores were associated with more positive attitudes and higher legal authoritarianism scores were associated with more negative attitudes; however these were only significant predictors in the community sample. Originality/value Prejudicial attitudes toward immigrants can have adverse effects on immigrants in the realms of the legal system, workplace, healthcare, and education.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Jung-Tae Kim ◽  
Rusty Barrett

This paper seeks to examine Korean EFL learners’ perceptions of parental involvement and how their attitudes toward parental involvement are associated with the success of parental involvement. Two hundred fifty four EFL children in South Korea participated in a survey asking the degree of their parent’s involvement in seven involvement types and their attitudes towards parental involvement. The results showed that while all types of parental involvement were positively correlated with English proficiency for the group of children with positive attitudes towards parental involvement, no such correlations were found for the group of children with highly negative attitudes. In addition, for the group of children with moderately negative attitudes toward parental involvement, only less direct, autonomy-supportive parental involvement was found to be related to their achievement. These results suggest that learners’ attitudes toward parental involvement may be a factor that delimits the positive influence of parental involvement on EFL learners’ achievement.


2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-94
Author(s):  
Sebastian Bergold ◽  
Matthias R. Hastall ◽  
Ricarda Steinmayr

Negative stereotypes about intellectually gifted individuals prevail among teachers and in society although empirical research has debunked them. They are also dominant in mass media representations of gifted individuals such as newspaper reports. The present study investigated whether stereotypic representations in newspaper articles contribute to the stigmatization of gifted individuals and whether nonstereotypic, evidence-based representations might help destigmatize gifted individuals. Two randomized controlled studies with N = 431 and N = 432 university students, respectively, were conducted. In both experiments, the stereotypic representation caused more negative attitudes toward gifted individuals ( d = 0.86/0.81), whereas the evidence-based representation caused more positive attitudes ( d = −0.54/−0.58), compared with a control group. Quality of previous relationships with gifted persons moderated both effects to some extent; however, both effects were quite robust against potential moderators. Results indicate that the media should be aware of their influence on recipients’ attitudes. Giftedness researchers should more actively join in the public debate to counteract stigmatization of intellectually gifted individuals.


2020 ◽  
pp. 003232172095356
Author(s):  
Conrad Ziller

Immigrants’ economic progress, on the one hand, serves as an indicator of successful integration and should serve to mitigate natives’ concerns about potential economic or welfare state–related burdens of immigration. On the other hand, the fact of immigrants improving their social status may also induce perceptions of competition and group-related relative deprivation. This study examines whether immigrants’ progress leads either to improved attitudes toward immigrants or to a greater perception of immigration-related threat. Specifically, I focus on how individuals’ egalitarian values and experiences in intergroup contact condition their responses to immigrants’ economic progress. Using data from the European Social Survey 2014, combined with country-level change scores in income gaps between natives and immigrants, I find that respondents who encountered negative experiences in intergroup contact respond to immigrants’ progress with increasing anti-immigrant sentiment. A survey experiment manipulating exposure to information about group-specific income trends mirrors this finding. The results have important implications for debates about immigrants’ integration and the economic motives underlying immigration-related attitudes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAZIT BEN-NUN BLOOM ◽  
GIZEM ARIKAN ◽  
MARIE COURTEMANCHE

Somewhat paradoxically, numerous scholars in various disciplines have found that religion induces negative attitudes towards immigrants, while others find that it fuels feelings of compassion. We offer a framework that accounts for this discrepancy. Using two priming experiments conducted among American Catholics, Turkish Muslims, and Israeli Jews, we disentangle the role of religious social identity and religious belief, and differentiate among types of immigrants based on their ethnic and religious similarity to, or difference from, members of the host society. We find that religious social identity increases opposition to immigrants who are dissimilar to in-group members in religion or ethnicity, while religious belief engenders welcoming attitudes toward immigrants of the same religion and ethnicity, particularly among the less conservative devout. These results suggest that different elements of the religious experience exert distinct and even contrasting effects on immigration attitudes, manifested in both the citizenry's considerations of beliefs and identity and its sensitivity to cues regarding the religion of the target group.


2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 440-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Utych

Immigrants, as a group, are frequently described in ways, such as vermin or disease, that portray them as less than human. This type of dehumanizing language leads to negative emotional responses and negative attitudes toward the dehumanized group. This paper examines how the dehumanization of immigrants influences immigration policy attitudes. I use original experimental data to show that dehumanization leads to more negative immigration attitudes. I further find that these negative attitudes are mediated by the role of emotion. Dehumanization increases anger and disgust toward immigrants, which causes anti-immigrant sentiment.


Author(s):  
Liliia Korol ◽  
Pieter Bevelander

AbstractMuch prior research relies on the idea that antipathy towards immigrants is primarily driven by natives’ perceptions of the threat that immigrants represent to their economic, cultural or national well-being. Yet little is known about whether subjective well-being affects attitudes toward immigrants. This study aimed to examine whether life satisfaction would foster tolerance towards immigrants over time via the indirect influence of political satisfaction and social trust. The sample comprised young native adults (N = 1352; M age = 22.72; SD = 3.1) in Sweden. The results revealed that young adults who were satisfied with important life domains were more likely to extend their satisfaction towards the political system, which consequently resulted in a generalised expectation of trustworthiness and a widening of their circles of trusted others. This then translates into more positive attitudes toward immigrants. The findings provide evidence that it is the causal relationship between political satisfaction and social trust (rather than social trust in itself) which promotes the positive impact of life satisfaction on tolerance towards immigrants. The study highlights that fostering political satisfaction and social trust may play an important role in shaping young people’s positive attitudes towards immigrants.


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