¶ … political opinions he or she holds?
What causes an individual to hold the political opinions he or she holds?
Political Attitudes Toward Immigration and Racial Stereotypes
Immigration has been a prominent political issue heighted by legislation introduced over the last few decades. People hold various political opinions of immigrants, especially those in the U.S. illegally, which tends to be divided along racial lines. It is interesting that in a country built by immigrants that many people have negative attitudes toward immigrants that are perpetuated by stereotypes and prejudice against racial groups. Stereotypes are widely used to generalize about the characteristics of groups of people through the assignment of simple labels alleged to represent group traits which are frequently based upon perceived wrongs of one group by another (Burns and Gimpal, 2000). Some of the most prominent stereotypes that have been the subject of psychological investigation involve ethnic identity (Burns and Gimpal, 2000).
Racial and ethnic stereotypes are relevant to opinion formation about public policy, because they influence information processing and decision making (Burns and Gimpal, 2000). Those who believe immigrants to be unintelligent, dirty, unwilling to learn English, or unwilling to work hard are more likely to oppose immigration than those who do not have such beliefs (Burns and Gimpal, 2000). This is also seen in other political opinions in the U.S. And other countries. For example, perceptions of welfare recipients' motivation to work are a universal driver of personal and public support for welfare across different nations and different welfare systems (Peterson et al., 2010). The formation of political opinions about immigration involves the attitudes and beliefs about different racial groups and how they are perceived by individuals and groups.
B. Media Influences in Political Attitudes on Immigration and Stereotypes
The media is a major source of information about ethnic groups, frequently...
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