Ricerc@Sapienza

The interest of social scientists about the determinants of anti-immigration attitudes is regularly growing. Nowadays, the management of immigration phenomenon is a challenge at political, economic, and social level. Understanding the social psychological antecedents behind the onset of negative attitudes towards people seeking refuge, or who decide to live in a country other than their origin country, can help to overcome this challenge. To that end, the present study aims at investigating whether the experience of being socially excluded causes a reduction in generalized interpersonal trust which, in turn, leads to the rise of hostile attitudes towards immigrants and immigration. Specifically, we hypothesized that: 1) to an increase in social exclusion corresponds a decrease in trust towards other people; 2) social exclusion exerts a positive direct effect on the emergence of anti-immigration attitudes; 3) social exclusion exerts a positive indirect effect on anti-immigration attitudes, through generalized interpersonal trust.
The predicted relationships will be examined by means of three studies in which the construct of social exclusion will be both manipulated and detected with self-report measures. The first two studies will aim to test the causal influence of social exclusion on interpersonal trust and the consequent increase in negative attitudes towards immigration. Social exclusion will be manipulated according to two widespread experimental paradigms of the Cyber Ball and Life Alone Prognosis. In the third study, the hypotheses will be tested through a 1-1-1 multilevel mediation model, on a representative sample of the European population. The purpose of the research project is to provide a new possible explanation about the emergence of negative and prejudicial attitudes among people belonging to different ethnic groups and sheds light on aspects which, if well managed, might favor the development of a widespread climate of integration and acceptance.