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Since 2015, Europe has experienced two important influxes of vulnerable migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Despite heterogenous reactions within and across countries, acts of humanitarianism and solidarity have occurred in a diverse range of behaviors. Given the particularities of Intergroup Helping in favor of refugees, a more nuanced understanding of intentions to engage in helping behaviors would enrich theoretical and applied research. We developed and validated a scale of Intergroup Helping in favor of refugees, that covers the two dimensions of help, i.e., Intergroup Giving (alleviating the suffering of others) and Intergroup Acting (addressing injustices and inequalities). Following scale construction practices, we proceeded in three phases. First, we identified and defined our domains of interest, and proceeded to collect representative helping behaviors, using secondary data of semi-structured interviews on volunteers. These behaviors were pre-tested. Then, across two studies, we examined the scale’s reliability, dimensionality, and validity qualities. Study 1 was distributed among a student sample at two time-points. Results yielded robust internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and predictive validity, and displayed preliminary evidence of the bidimensional structure. Study 2 was distributed among a non-student sample and supported the bidimensional structure of the scale. This research demonstrates that Intergroup Helping intentions in favor of refugees can be classified into Intergroup Giving and Intergroup Acting behaviors and offers a predictive tool to investigate these behaviors in an intergroup context.

Various national and international political associations have claimed that present-day racism towards people of African descent living in formerly colonizing European countries is caused by these countries’ colonial past and their governments’ failure to adequately address this historical legacy. However, no empirical study has yet examined the relation between social representations of colonialism (SRC) and attitudes towards Afro-descendants among majority group members. To investigate this phenomenon, we carried out two cross-sectional studies, which both confirmed that SRC are associated with attitudes towards the Congolese and with support for compensations. Study 1 (N = 407) investigated, among Belgian participants, the association of the two dimensions of SRC – Exploitation and Development – with present-day intergroup attitudes and support for compensations (material and symbolic) for colonialism. Representing the colonial past in terms of Exploitation was associated with more positive attitudes and more intentions to compensate for colonialism, whereas representing it in terms of Development had the opposite effect. Some of these effects were moderated by national identification. Study 2 (N = 203) used the same design but also included a modern racism scale. Results of Study 1 were generally replicated, and effects of SRC on modern racism were obtained: SRC in terms of Exploitation was associated with less modern racism, and SRC in terms of Development was associated with more modern racism. Results are discussed in terms of post-colonial intergroup relations.

Several European countries have introduced integration programs that oblige immigrants to adopt the host culture. While research has shown that members of national majority groups consider host culture adoption by immigrants as desirable, the effect of making host culture adoption mandatory on attitudes toward immigrants has so far not been investigated. We argue that perceiving host culture adoption as mandatory yields less positive evaluation of immigrants than voluntary adoption. Moreover, we contend that this effect is explained by a lower perception of identification with the host nation by immigrants in the former case than in the latter. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a first study in France ('N' = 63) and a second preregistered study in Switzerland ('N' = 110). In both studies, participants received information about an immigrant who adopted the host culture either voluntarily or as part of a mandatory integration program. As expected, granting civic rights to the immigrant is perceived as more legitimate in the voluntary adoption condition than in the mandatory adoption condition, and this effect was mediated by perception of host nation identification. These results highlight the role of the situational context of acculturation practices in social judgments about immigrants. Implications for mandatory integration policies are discussed.

Despite the current societal emergency, little is known about the acculturation processes undergone by Syrian and Iraqi asylum seekers. The present paper investigates their early-stage acculturation preferences in relation to their perception of majority members’ acculturation expectations and to their settlement intentions. 103 Syrian and Iraqi male asylum seekers were recruited during the peak of the 2015 “refugee crisis” in a provisional reception centre and completed a brief questionnaire. Results showed that asylum seekers reported a high willingness to participate in the host society and to adopt the host culture, while maintaining their culture of origin. Moreover, as predicted, asylum seekers’ settlement intentions and their perceptions of majority members’ acculturation expectations were key predictors of their own acculturation preferences. Implications for integration policies are discussed.