The dehumanization of refugees: Determinants and consequences.

The Global Refugee Crisis: Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications for Improving Public Attitudes and Facilitating Refugee Resettlement

“…In a follow-up study, Esses, Veenvliet and Medianu (2011) conducted an experiment in which they manipulated the content of a media story presented to participants, portraying refugees as bogus queue-jumpers or not mentioning this issue. In both cases, the article also described how costly the refugee program was to Canadians.…”

“…As demonstrated, policies that frame refugees as a potential threat to the host community-for example, those that are premised on potential danger to the host population-will lead to negative attitudes toward refugees and toward their resettlement in one's country, particularly when citizens perceive a lack of control (Greenaway et al, 2014). Similarly, depictions that dehumanize refugees are likely to reduce support for providing refugees with assistance and resettlement opportunities (e.g., Esses et al, 2011). An example is Sweden's recent restrictions on asylum seekers that are designed to limit the number of people granted permanent residency.…”

Moved by Observing the Love of Others: Kama Muta Evoked Through Media Fosters Humanization of Out-Groups

“…This is because many disgust elicitors remind people of the fact that humans are not much different from animals (Rozin et al, 2008). Indeed, studies have shown that dehumanization is associated with disgust elicited by reading about unhygienic living conditions of Roma (Dalsklev and Kunst, 2015), violent or sexual crimes (Bastian et al, 2013), or refugees being immoral cheaters (Esses et al, 2012). Folk conceptions of dehumanization describe people as lacking culture and being irrational, crude, savage, amoral, and primitive (Demoulin et al, 2004;Haslam, 2006;Bain et al, 2012;Kteily and Bruneau, 2017).…”

Uncertainty, Threat, and the Role of the Media in Promoting the Dehumanization of Immigrants and Refugees

“…What effect do these claims have on perceptions of refugees? To find out, we asked participants in this study to read an editorial about current affairs in Canada and to answer some questions about it (Esses, Veenvliet, & Medianu, ). We randomly assigned participants to read one of two newspaper editorials on refugees to Canada.…”