CANCELLED - Why and When People See Immigrants as Threatening

This talk will rescheduled for Spring 2020.

This talk will be based on an experimental study that Prof. Pupcenoks conducted with Michael Grillo at Scheiner University. They conducted two survey experiments to see how psychological and economic considerations may influence the way Americans see immigrants before and after the heated 2016 Republican Primary session. In their study, they wanted to see how our respondents perceive high (while collar) and low skilled (working class) immigrants, and whether the respondents viewed differently migrants from the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. They found that their respondents had a positive view of immigrants regardless if they were employed in high or low skill jobs-and in both surveys. However, those respondents who perceived that there are too many immigrants-as well as those who hold anti-immigrant predispositions-tend to view all immigrants as representing security, criminal, and socioeconomic threats. During this talk, Prof. Pupcenoks will start by explaining some reasons for why and when people may see immigrants as threatening, then explain the study and key findings, and then will open the floor for what should be a lively discussion related to this topic.