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This paper presents two studies which address an underdeveloped area within acculturation research: majority members' perceptions of cultural change. Specifically, drawing on the theory of cultural inertia, we explored how majority members react to perceptions of recent majority culture and minority cultures change. A path model was hypothesised whereby British and English majority members' perceptions that their British (Study 1, N = 266) and English (Study 2, N = 292) cultures are changing due to the presence of minority cultures was positively associated with symbolic threat, and through this with greater prejudice towards minorities living in the UK/England. However, participants' perceptions that minority cultures are changing due to influence from the majority culture were negatively associated with symbolic threat, and through this with less prejudice towards minorities. These findings were supported across different operationalizations of prejudice (i.e., social distance and positive/negative affect) and even when controlling for another recently introduced concept of meta-perceptions – that is, majority members' perceptions of whether minority members prefer majority members to maintain their culture and/or adopt to the minority cultures. Findings call for a greater focus on studying the intergroup consequences of majority members' perceptions of cultural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated how media exposure to a distant outgroup – asylum seekers in the European Union (EUAS) – may be associated with the transference of geographically distant foreign threats via Israeli media to Israeli local minorities. The study was based on an online survey of 1039 Israeli Jews. We found positive associations between frequency of exposure to negative EUAS media content and physical and symbolic threats domesticated from foreign outgroups to the local ground. Frequent exposure to negative EUAS media content was associated with worse attitudes toward asylum seekers in Israel. Thus, the media framing of remote groups and events can have important, long-lasting local consequences, including, most obviously, social and political implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural cues can affect individuals' experiences and attitudes. The headscarf is one such cue, as a symbol strongly associated with Islam that is often the subject of public discussion. In the present study (N = 94), a Turkish experimenter wore vs. did not wear a headscarf while handing out questionnaires in a German town square. Analyzes showed that in the "headscarf condition", participants reported higher negative stereotypes of Turkish Muslims, less warmth and more symbolic threat associated with this group than in the "non-headscarf condition". No differences in competence ratings were found, which supports the primacy of warmth. Furthermore, acculturation preferences did not differ between conditions. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to Gordijn (2002), prejudice does not only escalate because of how the ingroup feels towards the outgroup but also because of the perception the ingroup has about how the outgroup feels towards the ingroup, that is meta-prejudice. In a sample of 604 participants, this study explores the extent to which meta-prejudice predicts perceived threat and prejudice towards immigrants in Finland. In line with previous studies, results showed that meta-prejudice significantly predicted the perception of immigrants as a threat and feelings of prejudice towards immigrants. In addition, perceived threat significantly mediated the relationship between meta-prejudice and prejudice towards immigrants. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]