How “undocumented workers” and “illegal aliens” affect prejudice toward Mexican immigrants

Pearson, Matthew R.

doi:10.1080/15534511003593679

Cited by 36 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…More specifi cally, it was expected that attitudes toward unauthorized immigrants would be more negative when a legal frame implied by the labels "illegal immigrants" was employed, as compared to the term "undocumented immigrants." Also in line with results from Pearson (2010 ) and Knoll, et al . (2011 ), it was expected that attitudes would be aff ected diff erently when people are referred to as "immigrants" than when referred to as "aliens.…”

supporting

confidence: 92%

“…While general eff ects of framing and labeling have been documented in the literature (e.g., Entman, 1993 ;Rohan, 2000 ;Chong & Druckman, 2007 ;Druckman, 2011 ;Keren, 2011 ), and are supported by results from the present study, it is not clear which specifi c attitudinal eff ects may be expected. For example, previous studies suggested that the term illegal alien would have a negative eff ect ( Pearson, 2010 ) or no eff ect ( Knoll, et al ., 2011 ) on attitudes. However, in the present study, mean IIS scores were more positive in the Illegal Alien condition than in the Undocumented and Illegal Immigrant conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The media in the U.S. often refer to unauthorized foreigners by using diff erent labels interchangeably ( Pearson, 2010 ). The labels commonly used include "illegal immigrants," "undocumented immigrants," and "illegal aliens" ( Knoll, et al ., 2011 ; see also Soderlund, 2007 , p. 171).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Without formal equivalence of objects, it is unclear if diff erences in evaluation are caused by diff erent labels or by the possibility that participants did not have the same demographic or legal category in mind during evaluation. Pearson (2010 ) found that labeling unauthorized Mexicans in the U.S. as "illegal aliens" rather than describing them as "undocumented workers" increased the perceptions of threat and prejudice. While the labels in that study referred to the same legal category (unauthorized Mexican immigrants), the author rightly argues that each label nevertheless may refer to a diff erent social category, since "undocumented workers" is a more specifi c category than "illegal aliens.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the limited set of studies reviewed above, where legal status were confounded with demographic category ( Pearson, 2010, Knoll, et al ., 2011 or crude measures of attitudes were applied ( Knoll, et al ., 2011 ), it may be concluded that the framing eff ects on people's attitudes toward unauthorized immigrants are not well documented. Taken together, these studies seem to imply that labeling by reference to demographic category (e.g., ethnicity or employment status) will have eff ects on attitudes, while legality labels (undocumented/illegal) will not.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Framing Unauthorized Immigrants: The Effects of Labels on Evaluations

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the U.S. media, unauthorized immigrants are often interchangeably referred to as "illegal aliens," "illegal immigrants," and undocumented immigrants." In spite of formal equivalence, these terms carry different connotations, but the effects of these labels on people's attitudes toward immigrants are not well documented. In this replication study, 274 undergraduate students in psychology responded to one of three randomly distributed versions of a 20-item scale measuring attitudes toward unauthorized immigration. The items in the three scale versions varyingly referred to immigrants using the three terms. Results showed differences in attitudes toward unauthorized immigration between all experimental conditions. The label "illegal immigrants" yielded significantly less positive attitudes compared to the label "undocumented immigrants," and respondents exposed to the label "illegal aliens" showed the most positive attitudes. Furthermore, the effects of the experimental conditions were not moderated by the respondents' patriotism, sex, or own immigrant background.

show abstract

supporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Framing Unauthorized Immigrants: The Effects of Labels on Evaluations

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees: Different labels for immigrants influence attitudes through perceived benefits in nine countries

Graf

Rubin

Assilaméhou‐Kunz

et al. 2023

Euro J Social Psych

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The world is witnessing the highest level of displacement of people on record. Public discourse often uses labels to describe people on the move such as ‘migrants’, ‘asylum seekers’, or ‘refugees’ interchangeably. A preregistered study in nine countries (Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; N = 2844) tested experimentally the effect of these three labels on attitudes towards immigrants and immigration policies. We found a significant difference between the label ‘migrant’ and both ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘refugee’ on the social distance scale. Participants were happier if migrants, rather than asylum seekers and refugees, were their neighbours, friends, or partners. The effect was mediated by perceived benefits, but not threats, whereby migrants were perceived to bring more benefits to receiving societies than asylum seekers and refugees. To increase the acceptance of immigrants, speakers may consider specifying the given group and emphasize benefits that immigrants bring to receiving societies.

show abstract