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Autochtonen zullen nooit de minderheid vormen: Leidt de dreiging dat de in-groep de minderheid wordt tot meer openheid bij het categoriseren van een out-groep?

Terwyen, F. (2013) Autochtonen zullen nooit de minderheid vormen: Leidt de dreiging dat de in-groep de minderheid wordt tot meer openheid bij het categoriseren van een out-groep?

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Abstract:This study focuses on the influence of threat on the categorization process of a majority group, in this case the Dutch towards a minority group. Several studies show that intergroup threat leads to a more distanced attitude of an (in-) group towards an out-group. However, history shows a number of instances in which white Americans were threatened to become the minority, nevertheless this was subsequently prevented by counting former immigrant groups such as the Irish and southern Europeans to their own group. It seems possible that in this very specific case, that the majority is threatened to become the minority, the attitude of people becomes more flexible and open in favor for certain minority groups. In the executed study, respondents were threatened to lose their majority status by reading various newspaper articles. Subsequently, it was investigated what kind of effects this manipulation had on the respondents with regard to the categorization of Polish, Moroccan and Asian faces. Regarding two of the three cultural groups no support could be found for the expected effects. However, in the case of the categorization of Asian faces, the results suggest that people who are threatened to lose their majority status indeed get a more open attitude toward certain immigration groups. In addition, this attitude seems to be dependent on "perceived physical proximity" and "perceived social proximity" of Asians. Respondents who saw more physical similarities between native Dutch and Asians were more likely to quickly categorize Asians as part of their own group. "Perceived social proximity" appeared to have a reversed effect on the categorization processes of the respondents. In this case, that they were threatened to lose their majority status, the respondents who saw more social proximity between Asians and native Dutch seemed to get an even more distanced attitude. Despite the fact that this is the first study in this field and some errors occurred during the construction of the experiment, the results still indicate that people, under the influence of a very specific threat, might indeed get a more open attitude towards the integration approach. These findings offer good prospects for further research.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/63346
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