The Impact of Narratives on Attitudes toward Muslim Immigrants in the U.S.

ABSTRACT

This study examined the impact of narratives on attitudes toward Muslim immigrants in the U.S. Based on a 2 (content: acceptance vs. rejection) × 2 (narrator: Muslim vs. American) plus control condition design, 479 participants read one of five messages. More contact and positive attribution toward Muslim immigrants was associated less threat and exclusion. The American narrator telling a rejection narrative was the most disliked and received little empathy. Overall, narratives describing Muslim immigrants’ experience of rejection were more impactful on participant intention to engage in pro-social behaviours. This study discussed the implications of narratives in bias reduction efforts.

KEYWORDS:

• Anti-Muslim bias in the U.S.
• intergroup emotions
• narrative persuasion
• bias reduction
• threat and exclusion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. All messages used in this study are available from the corresponding author

Additional information

Funding

This study was unfunded.

Notes on contributors

Mary Bresnahan

Mary Bresnahan (Ph.D., 1985, University of Michigan) is a Beal Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University.Bresnahan has authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal publications. She conducts research on stigma and intergroup communication. She also studies breastfeeding attitudes and smoking prevention and cessation.

Xiaodi Yan

Xiaodi Yan (M.A. 2017, Michigan State University) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. Her research interest is to study message effects in contexts of stigma and health. She is interested in investigating the role of emotion and culture in these processes.

Yi Zhu

Yi Zhu (Ph.D., 2019, Department of Communication at Michigan State University) is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the College of Wooster. His research includes intercultural communication between international students and American domestic students, intercultural conflict, facework, and stigma.

Syed Ali Hussain

Syed Ali Hussain is an Assistant Professor in the Digital Audience Strategy program of Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University. Dr. Hussain studies social influence, persuasion, and behaviour change communication. Before joining ASU, Dr. Hussain completed his Masters in Health & Risk Communication (2013), and PhD in Journalism (2018) from Michigan State University.