Personal values and immigrant group appraisal as predictors of voluntary contact with immigrants among majority students in Israel

Sophie D. Walsh, Eugene Tartakovsky, Monica Shifter-David

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

What predicts whether young people will establish contacts with immigrants? Students are at a pivotal point in which the campus environment can enable substantial contact with immigrants, and where world views and behavioural patterns are formed which can follow through their adult lives. Through a value-attitude-behavior paradigm we examine a conceptual model in which appraisal of an immigrant group as a threat and/or benefit to the host society mediates the relationship between personal values and contact. Findings among 252 students in Israel showed that (1) threat/benefit appraisal of immigrants predicted voluntary contact; (2) personal values of self-direction and hedonism directly predicted voluntary contact; and (3) Threat/benefit appraisal mediated the relationship between self-direction and power and contact. Results suggest that increasing awareness of benefits of immigrants can promote positive inter-group relations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)731-738
Number of pages8
JournalInternational Journal of Psychology
Volume54
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2019

Keywords

  • Israel
  • Threat/benefit appraisal of immigrants
  • Values
  • Voluntary contact

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • General Psychology

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