In culturally diverse Switzerland and Western Europe, large segments of the national population hold negative attitudes towards immigration. On the one hand, negative perceptions of immigration have been shown to be prevalent in areas with low immigration rates and are thus unrelated to personal experiences with immigrants. Intergroup contact research has, in turn, consistently shown that real or imagined positive contact between groups reduces anti-immigrant prejudice and opposition to multicultural policies. On the other hand, multicultural, egalitarian policies convey social norms that shape the national majority members’ attitudes. Although both the literature on intergroup contact and on norms has generated promising insights on how to improve intergroup attitudes, it remains unclear how societal norms and encounters with immigrants act in concert in shaping these attitudes.
This project attempts to fill this gap in the social psychological literature and thereby to gain a better understanding of the factors driving anti-immigrant and multicultural attitudes. To do so, we aim to provide empirical evidence of the interplay between intergroup contact and normative influence using two interrelated methodological approaches: multilevel surveys (with ESS 2015 and MOSAiCH 2014) and experimental research. We first provide an overview of the relevant literature on intergroup contact and normative influence and then bring the two theoretical frameworks together to discuss the hypothesized interaction between these two factors. The research plan is structured into two lines of research using different conceptualisations of norms (i.e., experimentally manipulated injunctive and descriptive norms and contextual-level normative “climates” in society) and of intergroup contact (quantity and quality of real and imagined contact). Multilevel and experimental approaches are used in both lines of research. The first line of research focuses on how the interaction between amount of contact (opportunities for contact as defined by the proportion of immigrants in a region or self-reported contact quantity) and normative context (egalitarian vs. anti-egalitarian) affects perceived contact quality (positive vs. negative) as well as anti-immigrant and multicultural attitudes. The second line of research, in turn, focuses on the interaction between contact quality (manipulated or measured) and normative context.
This project has both scientific and practical relevance. On a theoretical level, while the influence of both normative contexts and of intergroup contact on immigration attitudes has been amply demonstrated, the present project sheds light on the way these two factors interact in predicting immigration and multicultural attitudes. This interplay between norms and contact has received surprisingly little attention up to now. On the practical level, our findings can inform policy makers and provide insights for developing efficient ways to increase harmonious coexistence between different groups in multicultural societies such as Switzerland. Based on our research findings, we hope to participate in the wider societal discussion on prejudice reduction in Switzerland.
