Short Paper
Using nostalgia to reduce prejudice toward immigrants
Maria Gravani,
Anastasia Soureti,
Sofia Stathi,
Maria Gravani
School of Psychology, New York College, Athens, Greece
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Anastasia Soureti
School of Psychology, New York College, Athens, Greece
Correspondence
Anastasia Soureti, School of Psychology, New York College, Athens, Greece.
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorMaria Gravani,
Anastasia Soureti,
Sofia Stathi,
Maria Gravani
School of Psychology, New York College, Athens, Greece
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Anastasia Soureti
School of Psychology, New York College, Athens, Greece
Correspondence
Anastasia Soureti, School of Psychology, New York College, Athens, Greece.
E-mail: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Based on research that points to nostalgia as a means of warding off stigmatization, this study suggests that nostalgia triggered by a past encounter with a close immigrant from the in-group can improve attitudes toward out-group immigrants. Focusing on immigration in Greece, 99 university students (M = 23.06, SD = 5.44) participated in the study. Participants who were induced with nostalgia reported higher social connectedness, inclusion of the out-group in the self, out-group trust, and positive out-group attitude compared with participants in the control condition. The aforementioned findings demonstrated that the positive effects of nostalgia about a close in-group member (in this case, a Greek person), who shares an identity with the out-group (being an immigrant), can generalize to the out-group as a whole (immigrants in general). Further implications and future directions on the use of nostalgia as a means of improving attitudes are addressed.
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