Express acceptance or feel anxiety? The effects of trait-related information about foreign residents on endorsement of multiculturalism

Abstract

Apart from direct contact, people also familiarize themselves with other groups through indirect information. For example, as previous studies have revealed, indirect information on personality traits of outgroup members have influences on intergroup attitudes. Extending existing work, the current study specifically examined the effects of such indirect information on people’s endorsement of multiculturalism, a set of attitudes regarding the attainment of harmonious coexistence among diverse cultural groups. Based on the Stereotype Content Model, two experiments were conducted to investigate how media coverage and social consensus information about moral, social and competence-related traits of foreign residents in China would affect local people’s endorsement of multiculturalism. In experiment 1, when participants learned from the news that foreigners in China possessed high competence, they expressed more appreciation towards the cultural diversity that foreigners brought to the local society, but less support for foreign residents maintaining their own cultural traditions. In experiment 2, participants who learned that other local people perceived foreign residents as having high sociability, morality or competence showed more appreciation towards cultural diversity and more support for maintaining such diversity. Furthermore, in both experiments, perceived anxiety played a mediating role in how indirect trait-related information affected local people’s support for maintaining cultural diversity. Lastly, possible explanations for some unexpected findings and implications for future research are discussed.