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Intrusiveness of Minorities: Growing Pains for the Majority Group? 1
Author(s) -
Tougas Francine,
Sablonnière Roxane,
Lagace Martine,
Kocum Lucie
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01897.x
Subject(s) - intrusiveness , feeling , psychology , social psychology , representation (politics) , immigration , group (periodic table) , inclusion (mineral) , developmental psychology , political science , politics , law , chemistry , organic chemistry
In this paper, we examined the impact of the numerical representation and the intrusiveness of immigrants on feelings of group threat voiced by the majority. The present evaluation of group threat differs from previous studies in its inclusion of temporal comparisons. The relationship between feelings of threat and attitudes toward immigration was also evaluated. In all, 221 college students completed a questionnaire. As predicted, results obtained show that numerical representation was positively associated with feelings of group threat resulting from invidious social comparisons. Intrusiveness was positively related to feelings of group threat resulting from temporal comparisons. Contrary to hypotheses, the final model confirms that only feelings of temporal group threat were associated with negative attitudes toward immigration. Practical implications and the important role of temporal comparisons are discussed.