Research finds that the perception that immigrants are culturally and economically threatening is associated with negative attitudes toward immigration. In a largely separate body of work, psychophysiological predispositions toward threat sensitivity are connected to a range of political attitudes, including immigration. This article draws together these two literatures, using a lab experiment to explore psychophysiological threat sensitivity and immigration attitudes in the United States. Respondents with higher threat sensitivity, as measured by skin conductance responses to threatening images, tend to be less supportive of immigration. This finding builds on our understanding of the sources of anti-immigrant attitudes.
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2 March 2023
Physiological threat sensitivity predicts anti-immigrant attitudes
Matea Mustafaj,
Guadalupe Madrigal,
Jessica Roden,
Gavin W. Ploger
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Politics and the Life Sciences
Vol. 41 • No. 1
Spring 2022
Vol. 41 • No. 1
Spring 2022
anti-immigrant attitudes
immigration
psychophysiology
Skin conductance
threat sensitivity