Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
How Dehumanization Influences Attitudes Towards Immigrants, Stephen M. Utych
How Dehumanization Influences Attitudes Towards Immigrants, Stephen M. Utych
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
Immigrants, as a group, are frequently described in ways, such as vermin or disease, that portray them as less than human. This type of dehumanizing language leads to negative emotional responses and negative attitudes towards the dehumanized group. This paper examines how the dehumanization of immigrants influences immigration policy attitudes I use original experimental data to show that dehumanization leads to more negative immigration attitudes. I further find that these negative attitudes are mediated by the role of emotion. Dehumanization increases anger and disgust towards immigrants, which causes anti-immigrant sentiment.
Negative Affective Language In Politics, Stephen M. Utych
Negative Affective Language In Politics, Stephen M. Utych
Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations
How do the words we use to talk about politics influence political attitudes and evaluations? I focus specifically on negative affective language; words which individuals have pre-existing negative reactions towards. Considering the Affect Infusion Model (AIM), processing style influences how individuals use affect when making decisions. The impact of affective language depends upon the complexity of the decision. In simpler processing tasks, individuals will use affect as a heuristic. This causes a misattribution of generalized negative affect onto a political target, leading to harsher evaluations. When a decision is complex, affective language influences how new information is stored in memory, …