Making nuance noticeable: Efficacy of intersectional representations on US immigration attitudes in news media exemplars

Partain, L., & Read, G. L.  “Making nuance noticeable: Efficacy of intersectional representations on US immigration attitudes in news media exemplars,” paper to be presented at International Communication Association. Toronto, Canada.
Abstract: We investigated how media exemplars affect immigration attitudes in a series of studies. In Study 1 we assessed perceptions of warmth and competence for 70 social groups using the stereotype content model (SCM). Based on these results, participants in Study 2 read a news story about an immigrant that varied in descriptions of their nationality and warmth and competence. Results reveal that prosocial behavioral intentions towards immigrants differ according to nationality and that nationality is the biggest factor affecting out-group beliefs and behaviors. Participants responded more negatively to the group versus individual, when they received the Iraqi rather than the British exemplar. These findings demonstrate that positive person perception reactions from the individual do not uniformly translate to the group and are rooted in extant beliefs of respectability politics. We discuss these findings as they relate to theory and practice.