Immigrants, as a group, are frequently described in ways, such as vermin or disease, that portray them as less than human. This type of dehumanizing language leads to negative emotional responses and negative attitudes toward the dehumanized group. This paper examines how the dehumanization of immigrants influences immigration policy attitudes. I use original experimental data to show that dehumanization leads to more negative immigration attitudes. I further find that these negative attitudes are mediated by the role of emotion. Dehumanization increases anger and disgust toward immigrants, which causes anti-immigrant sentiment.

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Responding to the COVID-19 crisis across the world has required a massive and sudden shift in human behaviors, with an end goal of slowing the spread of the disease. Importantly, this type of behavioral change requires messaging from governmental agencies and officials. However, we are uncertain about what types of messages are most influential at inducing behavioral change. In this study, we find that messages highlighting the risk to older adults have little additive power in influencing attitudes and behaviors beyond the effect of a broad informational message. However, messages highlighting risks to younger adults, in addition to risks to older adults, make individuals perceive COVID-19 as a more serious threat, though this effect seems to be limited to areas where infection rates are high.

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