The number of asylum seekers and refugees across the world is rapidly increasing. Negative attitudes towards these groups are globally prevalent and typically hostile because most receiving country citizens perceive them to be a security threat and an economic burden. This paper aims to understand the antecedents of negative attitudes toward a large refugee group currently garnering a great deal of attention – Syrian refugees, and experimentally test ways to ameliorate negative attitudes. In Study 1 (N = 122), we investigated predictors of social distance—as a proxy for prejudice—and found right-wing authoritarianism and intergroup anxiety to be significant predictors. In Study 2 (N = 162), we tested whether perceived acculturation orientation would predict social distance, and found that Americans were less prejudiced toward Syrians who preferred to assimilate rather than integrate. Finally, in Study 3 (N = 153), we tested if a form of vicarious contact could reduce social distance via reduced intergroup anxiety; we found initial evidence for this mediation link. We discussed the potential for the vicarious contact intervention to foster positive intergroup relations, and contribute to refugee wellbeing.

中文翻译：

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对叙利亚难民的社会距离：群体间焦虑在促进积极关系中的作用

全世界寻求庇护者和难民的人数正在迅速增加。对这些群体的负面态度在全球普遍存在并且通常充满敌意，因为大多数接收国公民认为他们是安全威胁和经济负担。本文旨在了解对当前备受关注的大型难民群体——叙利亚难民的消极态度的前因，并通过实验测试改善消极态度的方法。在研究 1 (N = 122) 中，我们调查了社会距离的预测因素——作为偏见的代表——发现右翼威权主义和群体间焦虑是重要的预测因素。在研究 2（N = 162）中，我们测试了感知的文化适应取向是否会预测社交距离，并发现美国人对喜欢同化而不是融入的叙利亚人的偏见较少。最后，在研究 3（N = 153）中，我们测试了一种替代接触形式是否可以通过减少群际焦虑来减少社交距离；我们找到了此调解链接的初步证据。我们讨论了替代接触干预在促进积极的群体间关系和促进难民福祉方面的潜力。