Negative media portrayals of immigrants increase ingroup favoritism and hostile physiological and emotional reactions.

ABSTRACT: Anti-immigration rhetoric in the mass media has intensified over the last two decades, potentially decreasing prosocial behavior and increasing outgroup hostility toward immigrants, and fostering ingroup favoritism toward natives. We aim to understand the effects of negative and positive discourses about immigration on prosociality at different levels of societal ethnic diversity. In two studies (student sample, nationally representative sample), we conduct a survey and a 3X3 between-subject experiment, including money-incentivized behavioral games measuring prosociality. We manipulate media representations of immigrants and the probability of interacting with immigrants (the latter measuring diversity). Results show that negative news affects prosociality as a function of the probability

SUBMITTER: Conzo P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8361166 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature