Strategies aimed at reducing negative attitudes toward immigrants are at the core of integration policies. A large literature shows that misperceptions about the size and characteristics of immigrants are common. A few studies implemented interventions to correct innumeracy regarding the size of the immigrant population, but they did not detect any effects on attitudes. We study whether providing information not only about the size but also about the characteristics of the immigrant population can have stronger effects. We conduct two online experiments with samples from the United States, providing one-half of the participants with five statistics about immigration. This information bundle improves people’s attitudes toward current legal immigrants. Most effects are driven by Republicans and other groups with more negative initial attitudes toward immigrants. In our second experiment, we show that treatment effects persist one month later. Finally, we analyze a large cross-country survey experiment to provide external validity to the finding that information about the size of the foreign-born population is not enough to change policy views. We conclude that people with negative views on immigration before the intervention can become more supportive of immigration if their misperceptions about the characteristics of the foreign-born population are corrected.

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信息会改变对移民的态度吗？

旨在减少对移民的负面态度的战略是融合政策的核心。大量文献表明，对移民人数和特征的误解很普遍。一些研究实施了干预措施，以纠正有关移民人口数量的数字，但他们并未发现对态度的任何影响。我们研究了不仅提供有关移民人口数量的信息，而且还提供有关移民人口特征的信息是否可以产生更强的影响。我们使用来自美国的样本进行了两个在线实验，为参与者的一半提供了五项有关移民的统计信息。该信息包改善了人们对当前合法移民的态度。多数影响是由共和党人和其他群体对移民持较消极的初始态度所驱动。在我们的第二个实验中，我们显示治疗效果在一个月后持续存在。最后，我们分析了一项大型的跨国调查实验，以为发现以下问题提供外部有效性：关于外国出生人口的规模的信息不足以改变政策观点。我们得出的结论是，如果纠正了他们对外国出生人口特征的误解，那么在干预之前对移民持消极看法的人可能会更加支持移民。我们分析了一个大型的跨国调查实验，为发现与外国出生人口有关的信息不足以改变政策观点的发现提供了外部有效性。我们得出的结论是，如果纠正了他们对外国出生人口特征的误解，那么在干预之前对移民持消极看法的人可能会更加支持移民。我们分析了一个大型的跨国调查实验，为发现与外国出生人口有关的信息不足以改变政策观点的发现提供了外部有效性。我们得出的结论是，如果纠正了他们对外国出生人口特征的误解，那么在干预之前对移民持消极看法的人可能会更加支持移民。