Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume 78, 2018, Pages 125-133

Can they ever be one of us? Perceived cultural malleability of refugees and policy support in host nations (Article)

Soylu Yalcinkaya N.* , Branscombe N.R. , Gebauer F. , Niedlich C. , Hakim N.H.
  • a The University of Kansas, United States
  • b The University of Kansas, United States
  • c The University of Bamberg, Germany
  • d The University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany
  • e The University of Kansas, United States

Abstract

Public support for accepting refugees into Western countries may depend on their perceived cultural malleability—the possibility of cultural change and adaptation. We hypothesize that members of host nations will perceive child refugees as having greater potential for cultural malleability than adults, which, in turn, will positively predict their support for acceptance of refugees into their country. In Study 1, participants reported greater perceived cultural malleability in response to images of child Syrian refugees (compared to those of adults with explicit markers of ethnic/religious identity, or groups of refugees), which positively predicted policy support. This pattern was replicated using American (Study 2a) and German (Study 2b) samples, and even when adult refugees were depicted without explicit markers of identity in the images. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings for research on essentialism and intergroup helping, and implications for fostering inclusive public opinion regarding immigration. © 2018 Elsevier Inc.

Author Keywords

Refugees essentialism Malleability Intergroup helping Social identity

Index Keywords

male human female public opinion adult refugee theoretical study Article immigration social status human experiment Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85045433845&doi=10.1016%2fj.jesp.2018.03.018&partnerID=40&md5=cadcdf8b5d44d6d69f84a9eddaccf9c4
DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2018.03.018
ISSN: 00221031
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English