Adopting strict political views actually makes you see everyone as more threatening, rather than the other way around.
March 25, 2026
Original Paper
How Migration Attitudes Harden: Longitudinal Trajectories of Support for Migration Restrictions in a Rapidly Diversifying Society
PsyArXiv · cvhmw_v1
The Takeaway
This flips the standard psychological explanation of prejudice. Instead of a 'realistic threat' causing people to want stricter laws, the data suggests that once people adopt a strict policy stance, they subconsciously start seeing the group in question as more dangerous to maintain internal consistency.
From the abstract
This study examines the rise in restrictive attitudes towards migration in Chile, where the migrant population has grown from 4% to nearly 9% in seven years. Using five waves (2018–2023) of the nationally representative ELSOC panel (N = 2,214), it analyzes both between- and within-person changes in migration attitudes. We document a sharp increase in support for migration restrictions between 2018 and 2023, identifying three longitudinal trajectories through latent class growth analysis: consist