A great deal of research has been conducted on prejudice, examining its causes and consequences. However, much less research has looked at its opposite – people’s liking of members other groups. This is the negativity bias in intergroup relations research. However, the absence of negativity is not the same as the presence of positivity; tolerating another group is not the same as accepting and welcoming it, and eliminating negativity does not mean producing positivity.
The current research takes a detailed look at the effects on immigrants of feeling liked and wanted by the Australian community, focusing on how this affects their adjustment and satisfaction with life in Australia. I like to think of this as “the effects of a warm welcome.”
To do this, we need to create a scale of how much immigrants feel liked by Australians. Once we have created the scale, we will distribute a survey that includes this scale to immigrants in the New England region.
Focus groups. To create the scale, we are conducting a small number of focus group discussions with people who have migrated to Australia from overseas and who are willing to talk about their experiences with the local community. We will then analyse the discussions for themes that seem to be important in these experiences and incorporate them into the scale.
Survey. After the scale has been constructed, we will create a survey to look at how experiencing liking (vs. prejudice) from the local community affects immigrants’ adjustment and satisfaction in Australia. This may also be influenced by the immigrant’s acculturation orientation, which will also be measured. The surveys are distributed to immigrants with the help of multicultural agencies and organisations in the New England region.
Community engagement. At the end of the research, we will welcome the opportunity to present the results to multicultural agencies and organisations in the New England region.
Contact
If you would like to become involved in this research or wish to receive the results when they are available, please contact:
Dr Sue Watt, sue.watt@une.edu.au, (02) 6773 2153
https://blog.une.edu.au/socialpsychology/social-psychology-at-une/sp-une-consultancy/
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