Anti-migrant policies at the U.S. southern border have resulted in the separation and long-term internment of thousands of migrant children and the deaths of many migrants. What leads people to support such harsh policies? Here we examine the role of two prominent psychological factors—empathy and dehumanization. In Studies 1 and 2, we find that empathy and dehumanization are strong, independent predictors of anti-migrant policy support and are associated with factually false negative beliefs about migrants. In Study 3, we interrogated the relationship between empathy/dehumanization, erroneous beliefs, and anti-migrant policy support with two interventions: a media intervention targeting empathy and dehumanization and an intervention that corrects erroneous beliefs. Both interventions were ineffective separately but reduced anti-migrant policy support when presented together. These results suggest a synergistic relationship between psychological processes and erroneous beliefs that together drive harsh anti-migrant policy support.

美国南部边境的反移民政策导致数千名移民儿童被隔离和长期拘留，许多移民死亡。是什么导致人们支持如此严厉的政策？在这里，我们研究了两个突出的心理因素——同理心和非人性化的作用。在研究 1 和 2 中，我们发现同理心和非人化是反移民政策支持的强有力的独立预测因素，并且与对移民的事实上的错误负面信念有关。在研究 3 中，我们通过两种干预措施探讨了同理心/非人化、错误信念和反移民政策支持之间的关系：针对同理心和非人化的媒体干预和纠正错误信念的干预。两种干预措施分开都无效，但一起提出时减少了反移民政策的支持。这些结果表明，心理过程和错误信念之间存在协同关系，它们共同推动了严厉的反移民政策支持。