What is it about?
You know how insurance salesmen sometimes scare you into buying their protection plans? The logic may explain political conservatives' fear of immigrants and their endorsement of anti-immigration policies. This study investigated whether fear really drives anti-immigration stance.
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Why is it important?
The researchers were optimistic about uncovering fear as a catalyst for change since it's something that can be eased. For instance, if voters have the wrong idea about immigrant crime rates, they can be set straight with accurate information. But unfortunately, the findings dashed that hope of dealing with fear head-on. Political beliefs, on the other hand, are much tougher to shake, so intervening will be quite a challenge.
Perspectives
In an era marked by hyper-partisanship, it is imperative to explore methods for fostering dialogue across ideological divides. The universal experience of insecurity is inherently human and could have served as a potential bridge for dialogue. However, this study did not find support for this route.
Professor Violet Cheung
University of San Francisco
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Situational insecurity versus entrenched ideologies as the source of right‐wing voters’ anti‐migrant sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, March 2020, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12663.
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