Brownbag Session: 17 March 2017 1pm @ AS4 02-08
Peiwei, our graduate student, will be presenting her research on “Conditional love: Singaporeans’ pursuit of basic psychological needs satisfaction influences attitudes towards immigrants”.
Find out more about her research below~ Be there or be square!
~~~~~
Conditional love: Singaporeans’ pursuit of basic psychological needs satisfaction influences attitudes towards immigrants Abstract Increasing xenophobia among Singaporeans is becoming a pressing concern. The current research, consisting of two studies, uses both Integrated Threat and Basic Psychological Needs Theory to understand what fuels Singaporeans’ attitudes towards immigrants. In both studies, participants rated the extent to which immigrants are seen as (i) realistic and symbolic threats (i.e., intergroup threats), (ii) instrumental to their need for autonomy, relatedness, and competency, and (iii) warm and competent (i.e., attitudes towards immigrants). Study 1, which utilised a sample of undergraduates, suggested that immigrants’ instrumentality to locals’ basic needs predicted attitudes towards immigrants, above and beyond perceived intergroup threats. Intergroup threats also mediated the relationship between perceived instrumentality of immigrants and locals’ attitudes towards immigrants. Similar results were obtained in Study 2, where participants were recruited from the general Singapore population.