Impact of Race/Ethnicity, Veteran Status, and Place of Birth on Attitudes Towards Welfare Recipients: An Experimental Approach

The current study explored the differences in the public's attitudes and emotions towards welfare recipients based on their race/ethnicity, birthplace, and veteran status. Participants read a mock news story created for the current study about a woman labeled as a "welfare queen" who was receiving assistance, but persuaded the reader to be sympathetic to her case. The mock news story varied based on the race/ethnicity, veteran status, and birthplace of the welfare recipient. Participants assessed the welfare recipient on various evaluative measures. A 4 (race/ethnicity: White/Black/Hispanic/Asian) x 2 (veteran status: veteran/not veteran) x 2 (country of origin: born in the US/not born in the US) between-subjects ANOVA was performed on the attitude and personality evaluations of the welfare recipient. The general pattern of results showed that welfare recipients were evaluated more positively when they were veterans, born in the United States, or were White or Asian. Conversely, the public evaluated the welfare recipient more negatively or held more aversive emotions towards them when they were Hispanic, Black, not born in the United States, or not a veteran. This research adds to the psychological literature and nonprofit sector by testing the persistence of stereotypes on the perception of individual welfare recipients.