The Influence of Media Portrayals of Immigration and Refugees on Consumer Attitudes: A Experimental Design

The current study examined media portrayals of immigrants and refugees and participants attitudes regarding immigrants, immigration policy, and Islamophobia using an experimental design. Participants included 284 male and female college students who were primed with negative, positive, or no media portrayals of immigrants and refugees prior to completing questionnaires related to their views regarding immigrants, immigration policy, and Islamophobia. It was hypothesized that there would be differences in participants attitudes based on experimental condition, with participants exposed to negative portrayals reporting more negative attitudes compared to the other experimental conditions. Factors related to participant susceptibility to media portrayals were also examined and were hypothesized to include participant age, race, biological sex, social class, and political and religious affiliation. Significant differences were found based on experimental condition for viewing immigration as an economic, physical, social cohesion, and modernity threat as well as physical benefits of immigration, intolerant attitudes toward immigrants, and affective-behavioral and cognitive Islamophobia. Participants who were primed with negative media portrayals reported more negative attitudes. In addition, biological sex, race, social class, and political and religious affiliation were found to relate to participant susceptibility to media portrayals of immigration and refugees. Implications for future research are discussed.