Ricerc@Sapienza

The proposed research project aims to investigate how Cultural Tightness-Looseness, or the degree to which social norms and sanctions for deviation are important for a given culture, can facilitate negative attitudes towards immigrants in different geographical areas of Italy. This area of research is of critical importance given that both immigration and anti-immigrant prejudice is on the rise in Italy, and will likely continue to rise in the future. Conceptually, individuals in cultures who experience ecological threat (e.g., natural disasters, pandemics) can react by becoming "tight" that is, by having a preference for rigid social norms, along with strict sanctions for deviating from these norms. However, there are other routes to "tightness"; we propose that individuals characterized by a Need for Closure (NFC; i.e., the desire for epistemic certainty), are also likely to prefer "tight" cultures. We expect that these individuals will prefer "tight" cultures not because they experience a specific external threat, but rather because these cultures can more efficiently effect and disseminate stable, secure knowledge. Regardless of this route, we propose that individuals with a preference for "tight" cultures should be more likely to have negative attitudes towards immigrants, as they represent "outsiders" which are less likely to be perceived to share natives' social norms. We aim investigate the role of Cultural Tightness-Looseness in three ways and across six studies. First, in Study 1, we aim to establish that Cultural Tightness-Looseness is associated with negative attitudes towards immigrants in different geographical areas of Italy (i.e., North, Central, South). Second, in Studies 2-4, we will assess the indirect effect of ecological threat (e.g., COVID-19) on negative attitudes towards immigrants. Third, in Studies 5-6, we will assess the indirect effect of the NFC on negative attitudes towards immigrants through Cultural Tightness-Looseness.