Titel
Learning Facts About Migration: Politically Motivated Learning of Polarizing Information About Refugees
Autor*in
Konstantin Glinitzer
Autor*in
Tobias Gummer
GESIS—Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
Autor*in
Markus Wagner
Abstract
Information processing during heated debates on asylum and immigration may often be influenced by prejudice rather than a desire to learn facts. In this article, we investigate how people process empirical evidence on the consequences of refugee arrivals through a novel survey experiment that disentangles politically motivated learning from other forms of learning and expressive responding. Specifically, we ask respondents to interpret a 2×2 table about the relationship between asylum seekers and crime rates. Crucially, respondents are randomly allocated to evaluate a conclusion that triggers their identity-protective stakes or not. In addition, we test for motivated responding as an alternative explanation by randomly providing some respondents with a response format that motivates them to report their inference truthfully. We find that information processing changes substantially when new information challenges existing asylum attitudes. Politically motivated learning is strongest among voters with strong negative prior attitudes towards asylum seekers. Our results also indicate that expressive responding can only partially account for this gap in correctly reported inferences. Our research has important implications for research on the consequences of refugee migration, theories of motivated reasoning, and survey methodology.
Stichwort
refugee migrationfact polarizationpolitically motivated learningexpressive respondingexperimental researchGermany
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1439901
Erschienen in
Titel
Political Psychology
Band
42
Ausgabe
6
ISSN
0162-895X
Erscheinungsdatum
2021
Seitenanfang
1053
Seitenende
1069
Publication
Wiley
Erscheinungsdatum
2021
Zugänglichkeit
Rechteangabe
© 2021 The Authors

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