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The Impact of Media Reliance on the Role of Perceived Threat in Predicting Tolerance of M uslim Cultural Practice
Author(s) -
White Campbell,
Duck Julie M.,
Newcombe Peter A.
Publication year - 2012
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.1559-1816.2012.00973.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , acculturation , multiculturalism , mass media , immigration , anxiety , political science , pedagogy , psychiatry , law
Two studies explored the role of perceived threat in predicting W hite A ustralians' acculturation preferences for M uslim immigrants, with particular focus on the impact of their reliance on the mass media. In S tudy 1, students completed a survey that indicated that their tolerance of M uslim practice was largely explained by their general attitudes to multiculturalism. However, among those who were highly reliant on the media, symbolic threat from M uslims played an additional role, with those who perceived more threat being less tolerant. S tudy 2 further explored these findings in a second survey that included other measures of threat that comprise the integrated threat theory. While intergroup anxiety was the form of threat with the strongest main effect on tolerance, the impact of symbolic threat was again moderated by reliance on the mass media. The implications for understanding the role of media in facilitating interethnic disharmony were discussed.