Dissecting prejudice is about as easy as picking apart a pomegranate. It鈥檚 a messy task that researchers at the have been working on for years.
They surveyed 223 students, and found two key factors among people with the highest level of prejudice toward undocumented immigrants:
- Group identification 鈥� when someone鈥檚 individual identity is strongly tied to their membership in a group, like being American.
- Group narcissism 鈥� feelings of superiority that go beyond patriotism.
Associate psychology professor , who co-wrote the study with researcher Patricia Lyons, says the goal was to predict negative attitudes towards undocumented immigrants, specifically Latinos.
The danger with negative attitudes, Kenworthy says, is that people who have such feelings are more likely to engage in discriminatory behavior. For example, he says: 鈥渒eeping people out of housing, or preventing certain kinds of people from jobs because they may be profiled.鈥�
This paper, which will be published in the , doesn鈥檛 look at how to change negative attitudes. But Kenworthy says past research shows one of the best ways to improve relationships between different groups is through contact.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 kind of a paradox with undocumented Latino immigrants,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ecause you often don鈥檛 know who鈥檚 undocumented and who isn鈥檛. So it鈥檚 kind of a tricky situation.鈥�
