Research Advances of the MIRIPS-FI Project Experience with Scales Used in the MIRIPS-FI Questionnaire

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1 Research Advances of the MIRIPS-FI Project Experience with Scales Used in the MIRIPS-FI Questionnaire Finnish MIRIPS Group Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki Funded by the Kone Foundation & Academy of Finland

2 Finnish MIRIPS Group Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti (Project Leader) Tuuli Anna Mähönen (Post-Doc Researcher) Merja Pentikäinen (Post-Doc Researcher) Asteria Brylka (PhD Candidate) Anna Korhonen (PhD Candidate) Emma Nortio (Research Assistant) Elena Waschinski ( Research Assistant during 2012) Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi / Esityksen nimi

3 Research Advances of the MIRIPS-FI Project Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi / Esityksen nimi

4 Theoretical ideas addressed Aim: understanding and predicting harmonious intergroup relations cognitive social psychology discursive psychology Theoretical models: SIT (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), Integrated Threat Theory (Stephan et al., 2008), IAM (Bourhis et al., 1997), Multiculturalism hypothesis (Verkuyten, 2005; Berry & Kalin, 1995) Focus: predicting attitudinal outcomes with identity processes DVs: attitudes towards outgroups, multiculturalism, collective action IVs: ingroups identification, psychological ownership, perceived superiority Moderators: group status MIRIPS-FI survey: conceptual similarities, different & new measurements (based on recent research)

5 Survey participants Random, representative, nation-wide sampling: 1000 majority and 800 minority group members (adults) Final samples (2012): Majority Finns: N = 335 Russian-speaking immigrants: N = 317 Focus groups: 2 majority groups To be collected: Russians (200) and Estonians (200) to study interminority relations Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi / Esityksen nimi

6 Finalised sub-studies 1) Brylka, A., Mähönen, T. A., & Jasinskaja-Lahti, I. (submitted). National identification and attitudes towards Russian immigrants in Finland: Investigating the role of perceived threats and gains. 2) Mähönen, T. A., Brylka, A., & Jasinskaja-Lahti, I. (accepted). Perceived ethnic superiority and immigrants attitudes towards multiculturalism and the national majority. International Journal of Psychology 3) Brylka, A,. Mähönen, T. A., Jasinskaja-Lahti, I. (submitted). Immigrants national identification and attitudes towards members of the national group: The mediating role of psychological ownership of the host country. 4) Master s theses: Nortio, E. Meanings of multiculturalism among Finnish majority group members Focus group interviews. Närhi, J. Dual identification and collective action among Russian immigrants. Huttunen, S. Ethnic and national identification as predictors of support for multiculturalism

7 STUDY 1: Majority Finns National Identification, Immigration-Related Threats and Gains, and Attitudes Towards Russian Immigrants in Finland (Asteria Brylka, Tuuli Anna Mähönen, & Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti) Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi / Esityksen nimi

8 Research Questions and Hypotheses What is the relationship between national identification, immigration-related threats and gains, and majority members outgroup attitudes? There is a stronger association between high national identification and negative outgroup attitudes for those who perceive more threats than gains to result from Russian immigration to Finland (H1). (moderation) High national identifiers perceive more immigrationrelated threats than gains when compared to low national identifiers and this, in turn, leads to more negative outgroup attitudes (H2). (mediation)

9 Measures Outgroup attitudes: 8 items (e.g., I think that Russian immigrants are as nice as Finns ) National identification: 4 items (e.g., I am proud of being Finnish ) 5-point Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree

10 Measures Immigration-related threats and gains: 12 item bipolar scale; (e.g., Russian immigration to FI threathens Finnish workplaces/creates new workplaces in FI ), 5-point Likert scale (from -2 through 0 to +2) Realistic threats/gains: 6 items measuring realistic group or individual threats / gains Symbolic threats/gains: 6 items measuring symbolic group or individual threats / gains

11 Study 1: Conclusions High national identification among majority Finns has a detrimental effect on attitudes towards Russian immigrants by enhancing intergroup perception of immigration-related threats over gains The pattern of results remained consistent and significant regardless of whether the immigration-related perceived threats and gains were examined jointly or as personal vs. group or realistic vs. symbolic ones

12 STUDY 2: Russian Immigrants Perceived Ethnic Superiority and Immigrants Attitudes Towards Multiculturalism and the National Majority (Tuuli Anna Mähönen, Asteria Brylka, & Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti) Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi / Esityksen nimi

13 Research Questions and Hypotheses What is the role of perceived ethnic superiority when predicting (1) attitudes towards native Finns and (2) support for multiculturalism among Russian immigrants to Finland? There is a negative direct effect of perceived ethnic superiority on attitudes towards national majority (H1). There is a weaker positive association between the strength of ethnic identification and support for multiculturalism when perceived ethnic superiority is high (H2)

14 Measures Outgroup attitudes: 8 items (e.g., In my opinion native Finns can be as nice as Russian immigrants ) Ethnic and National identification: 4 items each (e.g., I am proud that I am Russian (EI) and I feel myself a part of the Finnish society (NI)) Perceived ethnic superiority: 4 items (e.g., Russians are better than other groups in all respects ) Attitudes towards Finns: 8 items (e.g., I would accept with pleasure a native Finn as a friend ) Support for multiculturalism: 10 items (e.g., Ethnic minorities should be helped in preserving their cultural heritage in Finland ) 5-point Likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree )

15 Study 2:Conclusions Different roles of ethnic identification and perceived ethnic superiority: destructive effects of the latter No association between EI and OA, but a negative association between superiority and OA High superiority abolished the positive association between EI and support for MC

16 STUDY 3: Russian Immigrants National Identification, Psychological Ownership of Finland, and Attitudes Towards the National Majority (Asteria Brylka, Tuuli Anna Mähönen, & Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti) Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi / Esityksen nimi

17 Research Questions and Hypotheses What is the relationship between national identification, psychological ownership of Finland, and Russian immigrants attitudes towards native Finns? Both stronger national identification and psychological ownership of the host country are simultaneously and independently associated with more positive attitudes towards Finns (H1) The relationship between national identification and attitudes towards native Finns will be indirect through psychological ownership (H2)

18 Measures Outgroup attitudes: 8 items (e.g., In my opinion native Finns can be as nice as Russian immigrants ) National identification: 4 items (e.g., I feel myself a part of the Finnish society ) Psychological ownership: 2 items (e.g., I feel that Finland is my country and I feel that Finland is also a country of Russian immigrants ) 5-point Likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree )

19 Study 3:Conclusions Both stronger national identification and greater psychological ownership of Finland among Russian immigrants were independently associated with more positive attitudes towards the national majority The effect of national identification on attitudes towards the national majority group was indirect, so that stronger identification with the Finnish society was associated with greater feelings of ownership of Finland, resulting in more positive attitudes towards the Finnish majority group

20 Experience with Scales Used in the MIRIPS-FI Questionnaire Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi / Esityksen nimi

21 Problematic scales: Majority Measure N items Cronbach alpha Openness of Finnish identity 6.83 Threat/gains (combined measure of groups and personal symbolic and realistic t & g) 3 (each) Permeability of social boundaries for Russian immigrants

22 In process: Cultural discordance (acculturation discprepancies) & outgroup attitudes/support for collective action among majority and minority (Brylka, Mähönen, Jasinskaja-Lahti) Understanding of multiculturalism among majority and minority groups members (Nortio & Varjonen) Minority-minority relations: SINI project (I. Jasinskaja-Lahti, Academy of Finland) Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi / Esityksen nimi

23 Cross-cultural comparisons Survey: The most comparable contexts are Estonia/Norway and Finland Operationalisation of context: Objective: Cultural diversity index Subjective: degree of intergroup conflict Perceived cultural discordance (majority and minority) Different perceptions of status and its legitimacy (majority minority) Different perceptions of permeability of group boundaries (majority minority) Operationalisation of inclusiveness of intergroup context: Out-group attitudes, support for multiculturalism & minority rights Psychological mechanisms: Threat, trust, identification, contacts Interviews: Understanding of multiculturalism (majority, minority, mixed groups, four countries?) Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta / Henkilön nimi / Esityksen nimi

24 References Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. (2005). Attitude research in the 21st century: the current state of knowledge. In D. Albarracin, B. T. Johnson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), The handbook of attitudes (pp ). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Mähönen, T. A., Jasinskaja-Lahti, I., Liebkind, K., & Finell, E. (2011). Perceived importance of contact revisited: Anticipated consequences of intergroup contact for the ingroup as predictors of the explicit and implicit ethnic attitudes of youth. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 14(1), Stephan, W. G., & Stephan, C. W. (2000). An integrated threat theory of prejudice. In S. Oskamp (Ed.), Reducing prejudice and discrimination. The Claremont Symposium on applied social psychology (pp ). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Stephan, W. G., Renfro, C. L., & Davis, M. D. (2008). The role of threat in intergroup relations. In U. Wagner, L. R. Tropp, G. Finchilescu, & C. Tredoux (Eds.), Improving intergroup relations. Building on the legacy of Thomas F. Pettigrew (pp ). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Tajfel, H. & Turner, J. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In M. A. Hogg & D. Abrams (Eds.), Intergroup relations (pp ). Psychology Press: Taylor & Francis Group