Collaborative Research: Reducing Prejudice Toward Refugees: How Social Networks Reinforce and Unravel Attitude Change

世界上大多数政治难民生活在发展中国家。保持积极的东道国-难民关系对于维护这些国家的安全十分重要。本研究调查是否面对面的对话，旨在采取难民的角度来看，可以减少个人的偏见，难民在资源贫乏的情况下，是否改变信仰和态度的社会传播，通过社交网络干预后。研究结果将表明，社交网络如何在较长时期内加强或破坏信仰和态度的变化，从而增进对这一进程中最困难部分的了解：以具有成本效益和持久的方式消除对难民的偏见。 此外，在研究过程中收集的网络数据将被用来建立一个教学资源，以帮助社会网络分析教学。这项研究的最终成果将是学术出版物和一套面向公众的难民组织简报。 本研究的目的有四个：1。从家庭中收集关于个人属性、对难民的态度、社区对难民的看法的信念以及丰富的社会网络信息的新数据集。2.评估旨在减少对难民偏见的温和干预措施的有效性。3.比较两种可能的偏见减少干预措施的有效性，并确定社会处理如何加强或破坏长期的态度变化。4.检查哪些网络结构与其他社会身份标记（如种族人口统计学）相关。随机选择的家庭将接受观点采择治疗。在一半的家庭中，观点采择干预将通过一对一的个人互动进行，而在其他家庭中，它将通过社区会议的社交过程进行。将对基线和后续调查的数据进行分析，以满足研究目的。这项研究将是第一个直接研究旨在减少偏见的个人层面治疗的社会过程的研究。该研究结果将大大推进与难民人口研究、偏见监管以及社交网络对个人态度的影响等相关领域的基础研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Most of the world’s political refugees live in developing countries. Maintaining positive host-refugee relations is important for maintaining security in these countries. This study investigates whether face-to-face conversations aimed at taking the perspective of refugees can reduce an individual’s prejudice towards refugees in a resource-poor context, and whether changes in beliefs about and attitudes towards outgroups spread socially, via social networks after the intervention. The study results will show how social networks reinforce or undermine changes in beliefs and attitudes in the longer-term, thereby advancing knowledge on the most difficult part of this process: countering prejudice towards refugees in ways that are cost-effective and durable. Additionally, the network data collected during the study will be used to build a pedagogical resource to aid social network analysis instruction. The study will culminate in both scholarly publications and a public-facing set of briefs for refugee organizations. The objectives of this study are fourfold: 1. Assemble a new dataset from households with information on individual attributes, attitudes towards refugees, beliefs about community views on refugees, and rich social network information. 2. Assess the effectiveness of a light-touch intervention aimed at reducing prejudice towards refugees. 3. Compare the effectiveness of two possible prejudice-reduction interventions and determine how social processing reinforces or unravels attitude change in the longer-term. 4. Examine which network structures correlate with other social identity markers, such as ethnic demography. Randomly selected households will receive a perspective-taking treatment. In half of the households, the perspective-taking intervention will occur via a one-on-one, individual interaction, and in the others, it will occur via a social process at a community meeting. Data from baseline and subsequent surveys will be analyzed to meet the study objectives. The study will be among the first to examine directly the social processing of an individual-level treatment aimed at prejudice reduction. The findings will significantly advance basic research in areas related to the study of refugee populations, prejudice regulation, and the influence of social networks on individual attitudes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.