Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

2-2019

Abstract

In six studies (N = 2,340), we identified one source of people’s differential support for resettling refugees in their country—their beliefs about whether the kind of person someone is can be changed (i.e., a growth mind-set) or is fixed (i.e., a fixed mind-set). U.S. and UK citizens who believed that the kind of person someone is can be changed were more likely to support resettling refugees in their country (Studies 1 and 2). Study 3 identified a causal relationship between the type of mind-set people hold and their support for resettling refugees. Importantly, people with a growth mind-set were more likely to believe that refugees can assimilate in the host society but not that they should assimilate, and the belief that refugees can assimilate mediated the relationship between people’s mind-sets and their support for resettling refugees (Studies 4–6). The findings identify an important antecedent of people’s support for resettling refugees and provide novel insights into the science of mind-sets.

Keywords

refugees, lay theories, mind-sets, fixed growth, assimilation, open data, open materials, preregistered

Discipline

Marketing

Research Areas

Marketing

Publication

Psychological Science

Volume

30

Issue

2

First Page

238

Last Page

249

ISSN

0956-7976

Identifier

10.1177/0956797618813561

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618813561

Included in

Marketing Commons

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