The affective nexus between refugees and terrorism: A panel study on how social media use shapes negative attitudes toward refugees

Author(s)

Jörg Matthes, Ruta Kaskeleviciute, Helena Knupfer, Muhammad Masood

Abstract

Social media, as an important resource of information for many contentious topics, has great affective potential in terms of anger and fear. We investigated how exposure to news about refugees on social media is related to negative attitudes toward refugees as well as attitudinal differentiation with respect to Muslims and terrorists. A two-wave panel survey (N

_T2 = 524) showed that social media use about refugees was not directly related to negative attitudes and attitudinal differentiation. However, we found that anger served as the affective nexus between the refugee topic and the terrorism topic: Social media use about refugees led to more anger about terrorism over time, which in turn led to more negative attitudes toward refugees. Fear with respect to terrorism did not play a role in this process. Overall, our findings underline the key role of anger, but not fear, when trying to understand negative reactions toward refugees.

Organisation(s)

Department of Communication

External organisation(s)

City University of Hong Kong (CityU)

Journal

Political Psychology

ISSN

0162-895X

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12950

Publication date

11-2023

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

508007 Communication science

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Philosophy, Social Psychology, Political Science and International Relations, Sociology and Political Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Portal url

https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/the-affective-nexus-between-refugees-and-terrorism-a-panel-study-on-how-social-media-use-shapes-negative-attitudes-toward-refugees(aea73b30-12b2-4082-83e8-97c300e12a8b).html