Disgust sensitivity and support for immigration across five nations

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Political Science
• Cross-Cultural Psychology

Background:

• Anti-immigration attitudes are a global political concern.
• Emerging research links these attitudes to psychological disease avoidance motivations.
• Previous evidence was limited to North American samples.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the disease avoidance hypothesis in diverse international contexts.
• To examine the relationship between disgust sensitivity and anti-immigration attitudes.
• To compare the strength of this relationship with education's influence.

Main Methods:

• Utilized nationally representative samples from Norway, Sweden, Turkey, and Mexico.
• Included two diverse samples from the United States.
• Assessed individual differences in disgust sensitivity and attitudes toward immigration.

Main Results:

• Found consistent and robust evidence linking disgust sensitivity to anti-immigration attitudes.
• The magnitude of this relationship was comparable to that of education.
• The findings were consistent across all tested cultural and political contexts.

Conclusions:

• The study provides strong support for the disease avoidance hypothesis.
• Disgust sensitivity is a significant psychological predictor of anti-immigration attitudes.
• These findings offer new insights into the psychological underpinnings of immigration attitudes globally.