Attitudes Towards Asylum Seekers: The Australian Experience

Haslam, Nick; Holland, Elise

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-1403-2_7

Cited by 41 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Prejudice towards asylum seekers is not universally shared within the Australian community (Haslam & Holland, 2012) and negativity towards asylum seekers can be effectively tackled in the community (e.g., Hartley, Pedersen & Dandy, 2012). In this vein, it is worth devoting some discussion to the practical implications of the current research.…”

Section: Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, other research shows that attitudes to asylum seekers, and to other cultural groups for that matter, have an ecological base (Pedersen, Fozdar & Kenny, 2012;Pedersen, Kenny, Briskman, & Hoffman, 2008). Moreover, as noted by Haslam and Holland (2012), "government policy does not float entirely free of public opinion" (p. 108). That is, there is likely to be a symbiotic relationship between the attitudes of the Australian community and the political decision makers who shape them.…”

Section: "There But For the Grace Of God Go We": The Importance Of Simentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first involves the priming literature and, in particular, the role of similarity and difference. Certainly, research suggests that many Australians see asylum seekers to be less than human (Haslam & Holland, 2012;Haslam & Pedersen, 2007). As Haslam & Pedersen note, this can not only rationalise the harsh treatment of asylum seekers, but it can be used to protect oneself from a full empathic comprehension of what they are going through.…”

Section: "There But For the Grace Of God Go We": The Importance Of Simentioning

confidence: 99%

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“There but for the grace of God go we”: Prejudice toward asylum seekers.

Pedersen¹,

Thomas²

2013

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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for collecting and inputting the data. Running head: Prejudice against asylum seekers to AustraliaKey words: Prejudice; racism; asylum seekers; refugees; empathy Bio: Anne Pedersen BA(Hons)., PhD.I have been an asylum seeker advocate for approximately ten years and have a keen interest in the integration of such advocacy with my academic work. I work as an applied social/peace/community psychologist in the School of Psychology and Exercise Science at Murdoch University, Western Australia. My main academic interests involve prejudice and anti-prejudice against different cultural groups; in particular, asylum seekers, Indigenous Australians and Muslim Australians. Bio: Emma ThomasBA/BPsyc (Hons)., PhD.I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology and Exercise Science at Murdoch University, Western Australia. My social psychological research focuses primarily on the role of emotion and social identity in promoting collective action for social change with particular application to humanitarian contexts (global poverty, humanitarian emergencies and the refugee crises). 2 AbstractAustralia receives relatively few asylum seekers but the public debate on this issue is intense and there is a widespread prejudice towards them. The current research considers the role of two approaches in explaining prejudice towards asylum seekers: similarity priming and affective reactions of empathy. Participants (N = 119) were primed that asylum seekers were either "similar" or "different" to them and asked whether these similarities/differences were important. Dispositional empathy and asylum seeker empathy were measured. Results showed that priming was associated with increased prejudice when priming involved similarity and those similarities were held to be important. Moreover, cognitive similarity priming and affective empathy contributed separately and additively to the prediction of prejudice. Qualitative responses to the priming question revealed that even when "difference" was primed, two out of the three prevalent themes were positive. Results are discussed in relation to understanding the cognitive and affective bases of empathy and prejudice, and practical implications for activists working to reduce prejudice towards asylum seekers.

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Section: Practical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: "There But For the Grace Of God Go We": The Importance Of Simentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: "There But For the Grace Of God Go We": The Importance Of Simentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

“There but for the grace of God go we”: Prejudice toward asylum seekers.

Pedersen¹,

Thomas²

2013

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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“…If this was the case, there would have been no significant difference between the two groups in the above studies. Haslam and Holland (2012) note that people supportive of asylum seekers may rebuke the Australian community for racism or xenophobia. Although there is a kernel of truth in the 'racism hypothesis' , by itself it is an unsatisfactory and simplistic explanation when examining individual attitudes.…”

Section: Negative Attitudes Towards Asylum Seekers Do Notmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To do this, we look at the research -both domestic and international -examining the correlates of prejudice against asylum seekers. We extend the excellent Australian review conducted by Haslam and Holland (2012) by updating the research and focusing on antiprejudice interventions of mandatorily detaining all asylum seekers who arrive without a valid visa. The vast majority of such arrivals were asylum seekers arriving by boat.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Can We Make a Difference? Prejudice Towards Asylum Seekers in Australia and the Effectiveness of Antiprejudice Interventions

Pedersen

Hartley

2015

Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology

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O ver the past few decades, Australia has implemented increasingly restrictive measures to try and deter the arrival of asylum seekers. In our article, we review what is known in the literature about the antecedents of prejudice against asylum seekers. We outline 11 mechanisms, or variables, as being particularly important. We then draw out the practical implications as they relate to antiprejudice interventions. Within the research and implications, we discuss our own experiences of working directly with asylum seekers over the past decade and in running antiprejudice interventions. We conclude that even though the situation is bleak in Australia at the time of writing this article (at the end of 2014), we must continue with attempts to combat the demonisation of asylum seekers both on an individual level and a structural level.

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Preference for consistency and value dissimilarities in dehumanization and prejudice toward asylum seekers in Australia

Greenhalgh

Watt

2014

Euro J Social Psych

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Recent research has highlighted the importance of differential attribution of uniquely human characteristics in dehumanization and prejudice. Relatively little is known, however, about the importance of perceiving dissimilarities between the ingroup and outgroup in different types of values (beyond prosocial values), or the role of preference for consistency (PFC). This study investigated values, perceived dissimilarities in values, and PFC, in dehumanization of and prejudice toward asylum seekers in Australia. Results from a survey of 140 Australians revealed a strong relationship between dehumanization and prejudice. Individuals with stronger conservation and self-enhancement values, and greater perceived dissimilarity to asylum seekers on self-transcendence and self-enhancement values, dehumanized asylum seekers more and were more prejudiced toward them. The relationships between perceived self-transcendence and self-enhancement dissimilarities and prejudice were mediated by dehumanization, whereas PFC moderated the relationship between conservation value differences and dehumanization. These findings offer important insight into the conditions that promote dehumanization and prejudice, which may in turn help explain the negative perceptions of asylum seekers in Australia.

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Attitudes Towards Asylum Seekers: The Australian Experience

Cited by 41 publications

References 22 publications

“There but for the grace of God go we”: Prejudice toward asylum seekers.

“There but for the grace of God go we”: Prejudice toward asylum seekers.

Can We Make a Difference? Prejudice Towards Asylum Seekers in Australia and the Effectiveness of Antiprejudice Interventions

Preference for consistency and value dissimilarities in dehumanization and prejudice toward asylum seekers in Australia

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