Does Correcting Misinformation on Immigration Make Citizens More Pro-welfare?

• In Event: Research Design Lightning Round

Abstract

Can having accurate information change people’s attitudes toward immigrants and their welfare usage and ultimately adjust their social spending preferences? While previous studies present close associations between immigration attitudes and welfare attitudes in developed democracies, they do not provide the linkage by which immigration attitudes determine attitudes toward the welfare system. A hypothetical explanation for the connection is that immigrants are more likely to be a part of the welfare system. In this context, the frequently observed tendency in which citizens overestimate immigration offers a favorable opportunity to test the impact of corrective information on immigration-related issues. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether giving correct information changes people’s misperceptions about immigrants and subsequently adjusts their spending preferences on social programs. Drawing on literature from political psychology and political communication on corrective information, negativity bias, and motivated reasoning, I construct a survey experiment that exposes participants to different contexts of immigrant information, including the immigrant population and their welfare usage. The survey experiment also tests whether the framing of corrective information and participants’ partisanships have moderating effects.

Author

• Woong Kwon, University of Texas at Austin