Immigration has played a significant role in human history as people move to new places for economic opportunities, religious freedom, and political refuge. However, asylum seekers are often viewed negatively and falsely portrayed in media, leading to fear and distrust among locals. In the current research, participants read a fictitious news article about an asylum seeker's (Syrian, Ukrainian, or Yemeni) motivation for seeking asylum (seeking safety, seeking financial betterment from a position of relative financial hardship, or seeking financial betterment from a position of extreme financial hardship). Participants then reported their willingness to help that asylum seeker, and their prejudice and empathy toward both that asylum seeker and their group as a whole (e.g., Syrian refugees). Results showed that people were more willing to help asylum seekers whose motivation for seeking asylum was grounded in safety concerns rather than moderate financial concerns (studies 1, 2, and 3). Participants also reported more willingness to help the asylum seeker's group as a whole if the individual asylum seeker's motivation was described as seeking safety rather than financial betterment. Further, describing financial concerns as so severe that they endangered survival generated more willingness to help than moderate financial concerns, demonstrating that severe enough financial concerns may be perceived as safety concerns (study 3). We also found that people were more willing to help Ukrainian refugees than Syrian refugees. Altogether, these findings have both theoretical and practical implications.
Decisions to give and receive help are often influenced by group memberships, social identities, and intergroup relations. Two studies were conducted to test how perceived political relations between countries are related to willingness to accept offers of intergroup help. Respondents in two low-income countries, the Philippines (N = 289) and Pakistan (N = 275), indicated their willingness to accept (or not) Covid-19 vaccine donations from two higher-status countries (China and the United States) during the Covid pandemic. Results showed that the perceived motivation of the outgroup nation for providing help was associated with rejection or acceptance of help, mediated by emotional reactions to the help. A perception that outgroup nations donate vaccines to demonstrate and assert their superiority and power, that they donate vaccines to keep the outgroup dependent on the ingroup, and a perception that they donate vaccines out of self-interest, were all associated with rejection of vaccine donations. A perception that donations by the outgroup are motivated by genuine concern for the ingroup was associated with acceptance of help. Findings confirm that political intergroup relations are related to attitudes about whether the ingroup nation should accept intergroup help or not. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed. | INTRODUCTIONTo overcome global health challenges, a global approach is needed (Gavi, 2021). International sharing of health resources between rich and poorer countries is imperative on ethical, humanitarian, and medical grounds (see, e.g., the Guardian, 2021). Sharing can happen through international collaborations such as the COVAX initiative supported by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2021), or it can happen through individual donations from certain resource-rich countries to poorer countries, for example, by China to the Philippines (Reuters, 2021) and by the United States to Pakistan (VoaNews, 2021). But, a successful sharing of health resources does not only require resource sharing, it also requires a willingness among the population of low-income countries to accept and use resources such as vaccines donated by more resource-rich countries. The literature on the psychology of intergroup helping suggests that offers of help, such as donations of Covid-19 vaccines, are not always gratefully accepted. Under certain circumstances, offers of assistance can be met with suspicion and resistance (Nadler & Halabi, 2006). This present research will test the potential downstream consequences of motives attributed to resource-rich countries for offering Covid-19 vaccines to residents of two low-income countries: the
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