The Imagined Immigration and the Criminal Immigrant: Expanding the Catalog of Immigrant-Related Ignorance. Herda, D. & Divadkar, A. Migration Letters, 20(1):71–87, 2023.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
Whether it be about population size, origin, or legal status, what ordinary citizens imagine about immigrants is often incorrect. Furthermore, these misperceptions predict greater dislike of foreigners. But, if one considers all the facts that people could get wrong, researchers have likely only scratched the surface. To advance toward a more complete catalog of misperceptions, the current study focuses on one commonly held stereotype: immigrants’ propensity for crime. Using original data from a sample of college students, we examine the crime perception alongside nine established components of the imagined immigration, comparing their extent and consequences for a hypothetical anti-immigrant policy. Findings indicate that misperception levels vary across the ten factual questions considered. Many mistakes are consequential, but the criminal stereotype is the most damaging. It constitutes an important missing component in imagined immigration studies. The findings present implications for anti-immigrant sentiment research and for developing a more accurately informed population.
@article{herda2023,
	title = {The {Imagined} {Immigration} and the {Criminal} {Immigrant}: {Expanding} the {Catalog} of {Immigrant}-{Related} {Ignorance}},
	volume = {20},
	doi = {10.33182/ml.v20i1.2773},
	abstract = {Whether it be about population size, origin, or legal status, what ordinary citizens imagine about immigrants is often incorrect. Furthermore, these misperceptions predict greater dislike of foreigners. But, if one considers all the facts that people could get wrong, researchers have likely only scratched the surface. To advance toward a more complete catalog of misperceptions, the current study focuses on one commonly held stereotype: immigrants’ propensity for crime. Using original data from a sample of college students, we examine the crime perception alongside nine established components of the imagined immigration, comparing their extent and consequences for a hypothetical anti-immigrant policy. Findings indicate that misperception levels vary across the ten factual questions considered. Many mistakes are consequential, but the criminal stereotype is the most damaging. It constitutes an important missing component in imagined immigration studies. The findings present implications for anti-immigrant sentiment research and for developing a more accurately informed population.},
	number = {1},
	journal = {Migration Letters},
	author = {Herda, Daniel and Divadkar, Amshula},
	year = {2023},
	pages = {71--87},
}

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