Changing Hearts & Minds: Interventions to Increase Public Support for Refugees

• In Event: The Intergroup Politics of Identity and Conflict

Abstract

Perspective-getting and correcting misconceptions are two common interventions designed to reduce prejudice and promote inclusion toward outgroups. However, each strategy has its limitations: empirical work on the role of correcting information yields inconclusive results; and scholars have claimed that empathy-based interventions reproduce the biases they are meant to alleviate. We clarify the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy, and offer a design to identify the conditions under which they are most effective. Crucially, we test whether combining information with a perspective-getting treatment can produce interactive or additive effects on inclusion. Using three surveys with nearly 15,000 Americans, we find that information and perspective-getting affect different outcomes. A treatment combining both interventions produced an additive effect on all outcomes, but neither strategy enhanced the other. Our results underscore the promise and limits of both information and perspective-getting for reducing prejudice, and they imply that addressing the dual goals of correcting misinformation and promoting inclusion can be achieved most effectively by integrating the two strategies.

Authors

• Claire Leslie Adida, UCSD

• Adeline Lo, University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Lauren Prather, University of California, San Diego

• Scott Williamson, Oxford University