Poster #176 - Perceptions of Immigrant Threat Create a Stronger In-group Bias Measured by Oxytocin

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Immigration has been a debated topic in the United States for several reasons, including a fear of losing resources and a threat of job availability. Murray and Marx (2013) categorized these fears as realistic which they found to be linked to greater intergroup anxiety. Additionally, research has shown a noticeable difference in prejudicial attitudes when the immigration status was documented versus undocumented (Ommundsen & Larsen, 1997; Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014). In addition, the prejudice and anxiety may stem from individual differences such as social dominance orientation (SDO) which is the belief that that their in-group should be dominant and superior over the other groups (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994). Specifically, Craig and Richeson (2014) found that SDO is positively associated with greater willingness to support a policy that may negatively affect minority immigrants. The current study examined how non-immigrant White American participant’s level of perceived threat was related to their SDO and oxytocin levels by immigrant's documentation status.

Oxytocin is a hormone released from the pituitary gland during social interactions, such as pair-bonding and social recognition, and is associated with dampening stress hormone responses (Macdonald & Macdonald, 2010). Although usually considered a “bonding hormone,” participants given intranasal oxytocin were more likely to experience conflict with people from an out-group vs. people considered to be in their in-group (De Dreu, Shalvi, Greer, Kleef, & Handgraaf, 2012), this suggests that oxytocin is associated with inter-group relations. Specifically, oxytocin has been found to motivate non-cooperation towards rivaling out-groups especially when out-groups threaten one’s in-groups (De Dreu, 2012), which suggests that the participants who perceive more threat because they think immigrants are taking limited American resources such as jobs and welfare, would have higher oxytocin levels compared to those participants who perceive less threat. There is no previous research that looks at oxytocin levels and how they relate to a person's level of perceived threat and SDO by documented and undocumented immigrants.

The sample included 203 students (ages 18-26, M= 21.3) from a Midwestern regional university (129 females and 74 males and most were European American and those who were not, 9 identified as Latino). The current study used structural equation modeling with a good model fit (i.e., fit criteria of χ²/df < 3, CFI >0.9, GFI >0.9, SRMR <0.08 and RMSEA <0.08). The covariates (i.e., age, gender, and socioeconomic status) were not significant. Next, significance tests for indirect effects were constructed using bootstrap resampling. Results indicate that participants with higher bias scores, regardless of the documentation status of the immigrant group presented, produced higher oxytocin levels compared to those with lower bias scores. In addition, there were bigger differences in baseline vs. reactive oxytocin levels in participants with higher bias scores than ones with lower scores. These results suggest that there is an implicit physiological response to an explicit response to perceived threat. When examining SDO, there was a partial mediation. Specifically, higher social dominance orientation was associated with higher perceived threat, which in turn was associated with higher levels of oxytocin.

Author

• Hui Chu, Purdue University Northwest
  Presenting Author