Theory of Mind, Discrimination and Prejudice towards Refugees: Mediation through Egalitarian Beliefs and Perceived Inequality

• In Event: An Integrative Perspective on the link between Theory of Mind and Moral Development

Abstract

There is growing evidence that Syrian youth in Türkiye experience prejudice and discrimination in schools (Demir & Özgül, 2019; Gönültaş et al., 2020). Previous research suggests that social-cognitive competencies (e.g., Theory of Mind, ToM, Lapan & Boseovski, 2015) and critical consciousness (e.g., egalitarian beliefs, perceived inequality, Heberle et al., 2020) are important to challenge prejudice and discrimination. However, less is known about how different correlates act in concert to understand possible mechanisms behind prejudice and discrimination. To address this gap, we examined how prejudice and discrimination towards Syrian refugees are related to ToM through egalitarian beliefs and perceived inequality.
Data was collected from 587 Turkish adolescents in high (n = 215, Mage = 14.81, SD =.97; 142 girls) and middle (n = 372, Mage = 12.19, SD = 1.01; 208 girls) school in Istanbul, Türkiye. Discriminatory tendencies were measured through their evaluations of how much they wanted to be socially distant or close to a Syrian peer in the neighbourhood and school (Berger et al., 2015) and prejudice was measured with the Multiple‐Response Racial Attitude scale (Aboud, 2003). Participants’ ToMwas examined with two mindreading stories taken from the Strange Stories task (White, et al., 2009) and their egalitarian beliefs and perceptions of inequalities were measured with two subscales of the Critical Consciousness Scale (Diemer et al., 2017).
Two separate parallel mediation models (PROCESS Macro, Model 4) were used to examine whether the relationship between ToM and prejudice and discrimination would be mediated by egalitarian beliefs and perceptions of inequalities. Results documented significant indirect effects of ToM on discrimination via egalitarian beliefs (mediator), (ß = -.10, SE = .004, 95% CI [-.11, -.09] (see Figure 1). Accordingly, participants with higher ToM were more likely to endorse egalitarian beliefs, which in turn predicted a lower likelihood of reporting discriminatory tendencies towards Syrian refugees. The overall model explained 21% of the variance, F (3, 531) = 840.99, p < .001. The indirect effect of perception of inequality was not significant for discrimination (ß = -.002, 95% CI [-.006, .002]. For the prejudice model, results showed that participants with higher ToM were more likely to report egalitarian beliefs which was related to reporting less prejudice (indirect path: ß = -.10, 95% CI [-.10, -.09] (see Figure 2). Interestingly, participants with higher ToM were more likely to be aware of perceived inequalities, which in turn predicted a higher likelihood of reporting prejudice towards Syrian refugees (indirect path: ß =.02, 95% CI [.02, .03] It is possible that increasing awareness of inequalities might lead adolescents to think about perceived differences with outgroups which in turn could lead to prejudicial attitudes. The overall model explained 23% of the variance, F (3, 514) = 1021.40, p < .001.
Taken together, this study contributes to the growing body of literature investigating the possible association between ToM, prejudice and discrimination, and critical consciousness. Findings also provide insights for intervention studies aiming to reduce discrimination and prejudice by emphasizing different types of social-cognitive skills and critical consciousness.

Authors

• Seçil Gönültaş, Bilkent University
  Presenting Author

• Kelly Lynn S Mulvey, North Carolina State University