The role of ingroup threat and conservative ideologies on prejudice against immigrants in two samples of Italian adults

Understanding Cyber-Racism Perpetration within the Broader Context of Cyberbullying Theory: A Theoretical Integration

The purpose of the current theoretical review is to argue for the theoretical integration of cyber-racism perpetration into the broader cyberbullying context-making note of the similarities between both types of nefarious online behavior that make this integration appropriate and the differences that make the integration less clear. Cyber-racism and cyberbullying victimization have been shown to be prevalent in youth and is related to poor psychological outcomes. Understanding both types of antisocial online behaviors have implications for the understanding and subsequent reduction of cyber-racism. Our review focuses on a cyber-racism model that proposes the importance of anonymity perceptions afforded to the online user to cause cyber-racism via several routes that focus on (a) online disinhibition, (b) deindividuation and group polarization, and (c) stereotypes. We discuss the tenets of this theory and the overlap with the Barlett Gentile Cyberbullying Model-a learning-based model that focuses on how anonymity eventually predicts cyberbullying via the development of positive cyberbullying attitudes. We believe that theoretical integration is necessary; however, future work needs to test several theoretical underpinnings of these models first. We end with a discussion of theoretical and intervention implications before discussing limitations and future work. Overall, we hope this review sparks interesting future research to understand cyber-racism and broaden the existing research on cyberbullying.

The role of the COVID-19 impersonal threat strengthening the associations of right-wing attitudes, nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiments

Literature showed that the link between right-wing attitudes and ethnocentric attitudes gets stronger under existential threats, but the role exerted by an impersonal threat - as COVID-19 - on right-wing attitudes is still unclear. This study aimed to highlight the role of anxiety exerted by the impersonal COVID-19 threat on the relationship between right-wing attitudes and ethnocentric attitudes, as nationalism and anti-immigrants' sentiments. As part of an international project to evaluate the impact of COVID-19, this study administered an online survey to a representative sample (n 1038). The anxiety generated by an impersonal threat as COVID-19 - thus not exerted by any outgroup - can moderate the relationship among personal Right-Wing Authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and ethnocentric attitudes. This is the first study demonstrating that existential threat is effective also when exerted by an impersonal agent (as COVID-19) rather than by an outgroup. Second, these findings disclose useful implications for preventive psychological interventions and for social policy makers.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04305-w.

Item Response Analysis, Invariance, and Validation of the Multicultural Personality Inventory

In a global community with increased immigration and rising sociocultural tensions, there is a need for psychometrically strong instruments that assess adjustment to increasingly culturally heterogeneous environments. The Multicultural Personality Inventory (MPI) is one such instrument, but previous studies have not reported the instrument’s invariance or item-level responses. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the MPI using item response theory, invariance analysis, and structural equation modeling with a sample of 1,194 participants. We found evidence for a 34-item instrument with a bifactor internal structure that demonstrated partial invariance across gender, race, and generational status. Evidence of concurrent and incremental validity of the MPI was established through predicted associations with acculturation, satisfaction with life, social dominance orientation, mental health, color-blind racial attitudes, and self-reported high school grade-point average, beyond any variance accounted for by Big Five variables.

Tolerating the intolerant: Does realistic threat lead to increased tolerance of right-wing extremists?

Previous research suggests that threat can bolster anti-immigration attitudes, but less is known about the effects of threat on ideological tolerance. We tested the hypothesis that realistic threats — tangible threats to e.g., the safety or financial well-being of one’s group — bolster support for right-wing extremists. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 200) learned that crime and unemployment rates were either increasing (high threat condition) or remaining the same (low threat condition). Consistent with our hypothesis, higher threat lead to a significant increase in tolerance for right-wing, but not left-wing, extremists. In a second, pre-registered extended replication experiment (N = 385), we added a baseline (no threat) condition. Additionally, attitudes to immigrants were examined as a mediator. This experiment produced non-significant threat effects on tolerance of right-wing extremists. Overall, the current research provides weak support for the hypothesis that realistic threats have asymmetric effects on tolerance of political extremists. However, consistent with previous research, people were more tolerant of extremists within their own ideological camp.

Protecting America’s borders: Christian nationalism, threat, and attitudes toward immigrants in the United States

Attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policies are divisive issues in American politics. These attitudes are influenced by factors such as political orientation and religiousness, with religious and conservative individuals demonstrating higher prejudice toward immigrants and refugees, and endorsing stricter immigration policies. Christian nationalism, an ideology marked by the belief that America is a Christian nation, may help explain how religious nationalist identity influences negative attitudes toward immigrants. The current research addresses this through four studies among participants in the US. Across studies, our results showed that Christian nationalism was a significant and consistent predictor of anti-immigrant stereotypes, prejudice, dehumanization, and support for anti-immigrant policies. These effects were robust to inclusion of other sources of anti-immigrant attitudes, including religious fundamentalism, nationalism, and political ideology. Further, perceived threats from immigrants mediated the relationship between Christian nationalism and dehumanization of immigrants, and attitudes toward immigration policies. These findings have implications for our understanding of the relations between religious nationalism and attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy in the US, as well as in other contexts.

Intergroup biologization and outgroup prejudice in the time of COVID-19

Through two studies (N = 602) conducted in Italy between February and March 2020, we examined the impact of the COVID-19 emergency on biologization-a form of dehumanization that involves the perception of others as contagious entities-and outgroup prejudice. Overall, results showed that higher emergency perception was associated with greater biologization toward the groups most affected by the virus, namely the Chinese outgroup and the Italian ingroup. In turn, biologization toward the outgroup increased prejudice against that group. We also found that when the pandemic hit Italy, the greater emergency perception was associated with increased emotional closeness with Chinese people, resulting in reduced biologization and prejudice toward them. However, these results held true only for Italian respondents who reported higher levels of ingroup biologization. Taken together, our findings contribute to the knowledge gaps of biologization and prejudice by also providing relevant insights into the ongoing health emergency.

Twitter as social media arena for polarised social representations about the (im)migration: The controversial discourse in the Italian and international political frame

Grounded in social representation theory and its empirical investigation into the ‘social arena’, inspired by the ‘modelling paradigmatic approach’, the research presented in this article is part of a larger project aimed at reconstructing the ‘multi-voice’, and ‘multi-agent’ discourse about (im)migration. Specifically, this contribution’s focus is on the exploration of shaping and sharing social representations about (im)migrants through communication via the social medium ‘Twitter’. A total of 1,958 tweets (967 Italian and 991 English tweets) were analysed through Systeme Portable Pour L’Analyse Des Donnees Textuelles [Portable System for Textual Data Analysis]SPAD in two lexical correspondence analyses. The results show a dichotomous discourse organising a semantic space structured around five different factors for the two distinct Twitter corpora: both clearly show polarised social representations of ‘immigrants–migrants’, leading to exclusion–inclusion policies depending on the discursive agent’s ideological affiliation in the Italian and the international political frame. Used as a propaganda tool, Twitter echoes the related pro- and anti-immigration polemical representations of opposite political leaders in posts that are positioned differently in relation to the progressive/conservative ideology.

Support for rejection and reception policies toward asylum seekers in Italy: The role of conservative ideologies and legitimizing myths

Based on Social Dominance Theory (SDT), this study investigates the relationships between ideologically conservative attitudes (social dominance orientation, SDO; right-wing authoritarianism, RWA), legitimizing myths (false belief in asylum seekers as bogus; perception of in-group threats), and citizens' support for restricted reception and rejection of asylum policies. A sample of 539 people living in Italy filled in an anonymous questionnaire administered using a cross-sectional design. The results support the expectations, showing that people high in SDO and RWA were more likely to hold the belief that asylum seekers are making false claims and to perceive that the latter pose a threat to the in-group, which in turn increased support for both of restrictive policies. Findings suggest that conservative ideologies can positively affect citizens' support for restrictive asylum seeker policies based on both rejection and restricted reception by supplying ideological justification for not accommodating them in the host society.

Classical and Modern Prejudice toward Asylum Seekers: The Mediating Role of Intergroup Anxiety in a Sample of Italians

(1) Background: Increasing waves of immigration have not only changed the demographic features of European societies but have also had important implications for intergroup relationships. Based on the theoretical model of intergroup threat theory, this study examined whether and to what extent intergroup anxiety mediates the relationship between antecedents and attitudes toward asylum seekers. (2) Method: In a sample of 470 Italians (mean age 30.21), using a survey-based study, we assessed the antecedent of intergroup anxiety (national identification) and its consequences (classical and modern prejudice). (3) Results: The results supported most of the expected predictions. While intergroup anxiety was positively associated with prejudice toward asylum seekers, national identity was positively related to intergroup anxiety and prejudice. Moreover, the relationships between antecedents and consequences were mediated by intergroup anxiety. (4) Conclusion: This study has identified antecedents that can potentially increase or decrease intergroup anxiety and proposes certain strategies for improving social inclusion policies and relationships between asylum seekers and settled communities. The implications for future studies are discussed.

Support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants in Italy: Perceived threat and positive beliefs mediate the effect of contact with immigrants

The present study aimed at investigating whether the effects of intergroup contact on support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants was mediated by perceived threat from immigrants and positive beliefs toward immigrants. Using data from the Italian national survey on "Discrimination by Gender, Sexual Orientation and Ethnic Origin," which followed a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling procedure, a representative sample of 5509 Italian residents (53.4% women), aged 18 to 74 years, participated. Findings showed that contact with immigrants was negatively related to perceived threat, and positively related to positive beliefs toward immigrants. Mediational analysis conducted by structural equation modelling, indicated that support for discriminatory behaviours was positively associated with perceived threat, and negatively associated with positive beliefs toward immigrants. Both variables together mediated the relationship between contact with immigrants and support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants; individually, indirect relationships were also significant. To promote interaction between natives and immigrants by reducing the perceived threat and strengthening positive beliefs toward immigrants might lessen support for discriminatory behaviours against immigrants.

The (Non)Impact of the 2015 Paris Terrorist Attacks on Political Attitudes

Previous research has consistently found widespread attitudinal impacts of terrorist attacks. Using data from the European Social Survey, which was conducting interviews in 11 countries when the Charlie Hebdo attacks happened in January 2015, I compare respondents from before and after the shootings to test whether the event shifted public opinion on several topics. There is no evidence of average impacts across a range of issues, from xenophobia to ideological self-placement and immigration policy preferences. Data collected when the Paris November 2015 shootings happened also present no evidence of public opinion change on immigration and refugee policy matters in France, but there appears to be an effect in other countries-which varies according to contextual vulnerability. Results suggest that views on immigration and immigrants have, to a certain extent, stabilized in Europe and are less susceptible to shifts from dramatic events.

Intergroup contact and team functioning among nursing students: the mediation role of intergroup anxiety

BACKGROUND AND AIM

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK

The improvement of team effectivity is one of the main concerns for healthcare organizations. Moreover, healthcare organizations must cope with increasing multicultural composition of both workforce and patients. The intergroup contact theory suggests that frequent and positive face-to-face contact among professionals or students with different cultural heritage can help to reach both increasing team effectiveness and adequate care in a multicultural setting. The aim was then to verify whether intergroup contact during practical training would decrease intergroup anxiety and then increase team functioning.

METHODS

A cross-sectional design was used in which a questionnaire was delivered to 83 nursing students.

RESULTS

According to the intergroup contact theory, frequent and positive contact with non-native professionals decreased the intergroup anxiety which, in turn, increased prejudice and, more importantly, decreased team functioning. Moreover, intergroup anxiety showed a complete mediation effect on the relations between intergroup contact during practical training and both negative attitude toward immigrants and team functioning.

CONCLUSIONS

Intergroup contact with non-native professionals or students during practical training is able to indirectly decrease prejudice and improve team functioning by lowering the anxiety that is aroused by encounter with non-native individuals.

Does contact at work extend its influence beyond prejudice? Evidence from healthcare settings

This article reports on two studies investigating the role of intergroup contact on the reduction of prejudice against migrants and on organizational and health outcomes. Study 1 enrolled 624 native healthcare professionals and showed that frequent and positive contact with non-native co-workers was associated with a decrease in the professionals' prejudice and an increase in the professionals' perception of team functioning. These effects were mediated by reduced in-group threat perception. Study 2 enrolled 201 native patients and showed that frequent and positive contact with non-native healthcare providers was associated with a decrease in patients' prejudice and an increase in patients' satisfaction for the care received. These effects were mediated by reduced in-group threat perception. These novel findings showed that frequent and positive contact with non-native individuals can improve health and organizational outcomes along with facilitating positive intergroup relations.