attitudes towards immigrants in iceland: in-groups and out

BSc in Psychology

Attitudes towards immigrants in Iceland: In-groups and out-groups, national pride,

gender, education and job threat

May, 2017

Name: Kolbrún Eyjólfsdóttir

ID number: 180392 – 2469

ATTITUDES TOWARDS IMMIGRANTS IN ICELAND

2

Foreword

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the BSc Psychology degree,

Reykjavik University, this thesis is presented in the style of an article for submission

to a peer-reviewed journal.


3

Abstract - English Immigration is increasing each year in the Western world, including Iceland but little is known about the attitudes towards immigrants among the Icelandic population. The aim of the present study was, therefore, to examine attitudes and to identify factors that are related to attitudes towards immigrants in Iceland. Online survey was posted on Facebook and 418 individuals participated, 277 females and 139 males. Results indicated that males and individuals with lower levels of education had more negative attitudes towards immigrants than females and individuals with higher levels of education. Perceiving that immigrants posited a job threat was associated with higher levels of negative attitudes towards immigrants and perceived job threat mediated the relationship between gender and attitudes towards immigrants. Attitudes were more negative towards out-group immigrants or immigrants immigrating from non-western societies than for in-group immigrants or immigrants from western-societies. Higher levels of perceived national pride was associated with negative attitudes towards immigrants but the hypothesis that the relationship between immigrant´s group membership would be moderated by perceived national pride was not supported. Future studies should design educational programs aimed at decreasing negative attitudes towards immigrants and thereby increase the likelihood that immigrants and natives will live together in harmony.

Abstract - Icelandic Á hverju ári fjölgar innflytjendum í hinum vestræna heimi og þar á meðal Íslandi. Þrátt fyrir það, er lítið vitað um viðhorf gagnvart innflytjendum á Íslandi. Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að skoða viðhorf og ýmsa þætti sem tengjast viðhorfum gagnvart innflytjendum hér á landi. Netkönnun var sett á Facebook og alls voru 418 sem tóku þátt, þar af voru 277 konur og 139 karlar. Niðurstöður sýndu að karlar og einstaklingar með litla menntun hafa neikvæðari viðhorf gagnvart innflytjendum heldur en konur og einstaklingar með hátt menntunarstig. Einstaklingar sem finna fyrir starfsógn af hálfu innflytjenda virðast hafa neikvæðari viðhorf, ásamt því að starfsógn miðlaði að hluta til sambandsins á milli kyns og viðhorfa gagnvart innflytjendum. Einnig reyndust viðhorf neikvæðari gagnvart innflytjendum sem tilheyra út-hóp (e. out-group) eða eru ekki frá vestrænum þjóðum, heldur en innflytjendum í inn-hóp (e. in-group) eða þeim sem tilheyra vestrænum þjóðum. Þrátt fyrir að mikið þjóðarstolt hafi verið tengt við neikvæð viðhorf gagnvart innflytjendum, þá var sambandið á milli þess hvaða hóp innflytjandi tilheyrir ekki stjórnað af þjóðarstolti. Framtíðar rannsóknir ættu að þróa aðferðir sem stuðla að bættu viðhorfi gagnvart innflytjendum og með því, auka líkur á að innflytjendur og Íslendingar geti lifað í sátt og samlyndi.


4

Attitudes towards immigrants in Iceland: In-groups and out-groups, national pride,

gender differences, education and job threat

Immigrants all over the world are increasing each year and are expected to escalate

even more as the years go by (Esses, Hamilton, & Gaucher, 2017). In the year 1996, the

percentage of immigrants in Iceland was 1.9%, and had hardly increased since the year 1950

(Sigríður Elín Þórðardóttir, n.d.). According to Hagstofa Íslands, in January 2016 the

population of Iceland was 9.6% immigrants, which is an increase from the year before that,

when immigrants were 8.9% of the population (Hagstofa Íslands, 2016). The definition of the

concept immigrant can vary between different researchers. In general, immigrants can be

defined as individuals that have moved to a foreign country, other than the country that they

and their parents were born in. (Migliori et al., 2002; Bask, 2005; Hagstofa Íslands, 2015).

Key reasons for immigration can vary with some moving to seek employment or education

while others fleeing their home country because of war and hostile environment. What most

of them have in common are searching for a better life (Inga Dóra Sigfúsdóttir, Bryndís Björk

Ásgeirsdóttir, Álfgeir Logi Kristjánsson, & Jón Sigfússon, n.d.; Wheeler & Mahoney, 2008;

Adelowo, Smythe, & Nakhid, 2016; Olatubosun, 2016).

Attitudes towards immigrants have been studied worldwide and compared between

countries (Esses, Dovidio, & Hodson, 2002; Mayda, 2006; Hainmueller & Hopkins, 2014;

Esses et al., 2017; Kuntz, Davidov, & Semyonov, 2017) and as discussed below, several

factors have been found to be related to those attitudes. Negative attitudes towards immigrants

are more common in countries that perceive increase in economic insecurity than those

countries with lower perception of economic insecurities (Mayda, 2006; Hainmueller &

Hopkins, 2014; Kuntz et al., 2017).

Individuals that are highly educated, tend to have more positive attitudes towards

immigrants than those with lower levels of education (Jenssen & Engesbak, 1994; Blom,


5

2010; Hainmueller & Hopkins, 2014; Brylka, Mähönen, & Jasinskaja-Lahti, 2015). Reason

for these findings is that individuals with higher levels of education often have quality jobs

that result in natives not having to compete with immigrants for certain jobs on the labor

market (Jenssen & Engesbak, 1994; Hainmueller & Hiscox, 2007; Johnston & Lordan, 2016).

Also, a study by Jensen and Engesbak (1994) indicated that educated people tend to have

more tolerance and conception. Education can also reduce stereotyping and promote an open

mindset that reduces hostility. Those qualities contribute to a better insight and more positive

attitudes towards immigrants (Jenssen & Engesbak, 1994).

Hernes and Knudsen (1992) demonstrated that women have more positive attitudes

towards immigrants than males. Authors speculated that this gender difference might be

related to different gender roles in the society. Males are more likely to work outside the

home and might perceive that immigrants compete for available jobs on the labor market.

This explanation is consistent with the explanation for educational differences discussed

above. (Hernes & Knudsen, 1992; Jenssen & Engesbak, 1994; Hainmueller & Hiscox, 2007;

Johnston & Lordan, 2016).

Whether an individual is an in-group member or an out-group member can affect

attitudes towards him or her (Berry & Kalin, 1995; Pettigrew, 1998; Fetzer, 2000; Riek,

Mania, & Gaertner, 2006). Individuals all over the world belong to a number of different

groups. Some of those groups are given at birth, such as ethnicity and race. Other groups are

chosen by individuals, such as supporting a certain basketball team. Being part of a particular

group makes the individual an in-group member. On the other hand, those individuals that are

not a part of the particular group are referred to as out-group members, and especially those

who are associated to a rival group (Hunt, 2016). Immigrants that come from countries that

are considered similar to the country they immigrate to, can be identified as members that

belong to special ethnic and racial in-groups. However, immigrants that are dissimilar would


6

be considered as belonging to out-groups (Doane, 1997; Tropp & Wright, 2001; Verkuyten &

Yildiz, 2007).

Studies have shown that attitudes towards immigrants that belong to an out-group are

more negative (Stephan, Ybarra, & Bachman, 1999; Schneider, 2008; Azrout, van Spanje, &

de Vreese, 2011; Kanas, Scheepers, & Sterkens, 2017). For example, a research by Schneider

(2008) on anti-immigrant attitudes in Europe showed that immigrants from non-Western

origin were perceived as ethical threats, hence more negative attitudes were shown towards

them (Schneider, 2008). Gender differences have been observed in relations to how

individuals perceive in-group and out-group members, with males having more negative

attitudes than women towards out-group individuals (Sugiura, Mifune, Tsuboi, & Yokota,

2017).

Ethnic pride and identity have been found to be important predictors of attitudes

towards out-group immigrants (Valk & Karu, 2001; Sides & Citrin, 2007; Zick, Pettigrew, &

Wagner, 2008). A study of 20 countries in Europe indicated that individuals with cultural and

national identities showed some resistance to having out-group members immigrate to their

countries (Sides & Citrin, 2007). According to research, individuals or groups that have

strong ethnic identity and pride tend to have negative attitudes towards other ethnic out-

groups, however the attitudes were more positive if the out-groups were culturally similar

(Valk & Karu, 2001).

In summary, various factors (e.g., demographic factors, immigrant’s group

membership, national pride) are associated with attitudes towards immigrants. Surprisingly,

no published study has examined attitudes towards immigrants in Iceland recently, despite the

fact that, like in other Western countries, number of immigrants is growing fast in Iceland.

Understanding which factors are associated with negative attitudes towards

immigrants in Iceland is important as that will provide the critical information for designing


7

educational programs that will improve the life of immigrants and, more importantly, increase

the likelihood that immigrants and the natives will live together in harmony. Based on the

literature, the following aims and hypotheses were examined:

First, gender and education will be associated with attitudes towards immigrants in

Iceland and this relationship will be mediated by perceived job threat. Hypothesis 1) Males

and individuals with lower education will have more negative attitudes towards immigrants

than women and individuals with higher education. Hypothesis 2) Perceiving that immigrants

are competing for jobs will be associated with more negative attitudes towards immigrants.

Hypothesis 3) The relationship between gender and education and attitudes towards

immigrants will be mediated by perceived job threat.

Second, attitudes towards immigrants will depend on their group membership and this

relationship will be moderated by national pride. Hypothesis 4) Individuals will have more

negative attitudes towards out-group members immigrating to Iceland than in-group

members. Hypothesis 5) Individuals with high national pride will have more negative

attitudes toward immigrants. Hypothesis 6) The relationship between immigrant´s group

membership will be moderated by perceived national pride.

Method

Participants

The sample was drawn using convenience sampling via Facebook. Participants were

418 in total, male participants were 139 (33.3%) and female participants were 277 (66.3%),

two participants did not inform their gender. There were six age groups, 18-24 years old

participants were 76 (18.2%), 25-34 years old participants were 129 (30.9%), 35-44 years old

participants were 69 (16.5%), 45-54 years old participants were also 69 (16.5%) and

participants older than 55 years were 74 (17.7%). One participant did not inform their age. No

exclusion criteria were used in this study and no payments were offered for participation.


8

Instruments and measures

Icelandic versions of the questionnaires from the European Social Study (ESS) (2012)

and the European Values Study (EVS) (2008) were used in construction of present study.

General demographic information was assessed with basic questions about gender,

age and education.

Attitudes towards immigrants were assessed using three questions from the ESS

questionnaire: “Would you say it is generally bad or good for Iceland’s economy that people

come to live here from other countries?”, “Would you say that Iceland’s cultural life is

generally undermined or enriched by people coming to live here from other countries?” and

“Is Iceland made a worse or a better place to live by people coming to live here from other

countries?”. The anchors ranged from 1 (negative attitudes) to 10 (positive attitudes) and the

internal consistency of the scale was good, α = .917.

In-group immigrants were assessed with two questions from the ESS questionnaire:

“To what extent do you think Iceland should allow people of the same race or ethnic group as

most Iceland’s people to come and live here?” and “To what extent do you think Iceland

should allow people from poorer countries inside Europe to come and live here?”. The

internal consistency was good, α = .816.

Out-group immigrants were assessed with two questions: “To what extent do you

think Iceland should allow people of a difference race or ethnic group as most Iceland’s

people to come and live here?” from the ESS questionnaire and “To what extent do you think

Iceland should allow people from poorer countries outside Europe to come and live here?”.

The internal consistency was good, α = .932. Participants were asked to rate the questions

about in-group and out-group immigrants on a four-point Likert scale from 1 (allow none) to

4 (allow many). Higher scores indicated more positive attitudes.


9

National pride was assessed with one question from the EVS questionnaire, “How

proud are you to be an Icelandic citizen?”. Participants answered the question on a four-point

Likert scale from 1 (not at all proud) to 4 (very proud).

Job threat was assessed with one question, “To what extent do you think immigrants

take jobs away from Icelandic citizens?”. Participants answered the question on a five-point

Likert scale from 1 (very little) to 5 (very much).

Procedure

The study was conducted online via Google Forms. The researcher posted a link on

her Facebook website, asking for participation in the study. When participants opened the

link, a text with information, confidentiality and purpose of the study appeared. Participants

provided a consent by opening the link to the survey. The study was open on Facebook for 10

days from Tuesday the 21st of mars to Friday the 31st of mars in 2017.

Design and data analysis

The data was collected via Google Forms, which is an online survey program. The

responses to the questionnaire appeared in excel and transformed to IMB SPSS statistic,

version 22 for analyses. The main dependent variable was attitudes towards immigrants in

Iceland. The main independent variables were the participant’s gender, level of education, in-

groups, out-groups, job threat and national pride.

One-way ANOVA was used to examine the hypotheses that gender and education

would be related to attitudes towards immigrants and Bonferroni post hoc test was used to

examine group differences.

The procedure by Baron and Kenny (1986) was used to examine the hypothesis that

the relationship between gender, education and attitudes towards immigrants would be

mediated by perceived job threat. According to Baron and Kenny four conditions need to be

met for mediation to be present. First, the relationship between the independent variable (i.e.


10

gender and education) and the dependent variable (i.e. attitudes towards immigrants) needs to

be significant. Second, the relationship between the independent variables and the mediator

(i.e. perceived job threat) has to be significant. Third, the relationship between the mediator

and the dependent variable should be significant. Fourth, for mediation to occur the

relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable should no longer be

significant, or significantly reduced, when both the mediator and the independent variables

are entered into the model examining the relationship between the independent variable and

the dependent variable.

Paired samples t-test was computed to examine the hypothesis that individuals would

have more negative attitudes towards out-group members immigrating to Iceland than in-

group members.

Correlational analyses were computed to examine the relationship between national

pride and attitudes towards immigrants. Finally, univariate analyses were executed to explore

whether the relationship between immigrant’s group membership would be moderated by

perceived national pride.

Results

One-way ANOVA was computed to examine the hypotheses that gender and

education would be related to attitudes towards immigrants. The results reveled that main

effect for gender was significant (F(1, 414) = 8.79, p = .003) with female participants (N=

277, M= 7.05, SD=2.28) reporting more positive attitudes towards immigrants than male

participants (N= 139, M= 6.33, SD=2.50). The main effect for education was also significant

(F(3, 410) = 9.907, p < .001). As shown in Table 1, participants with the highest level of

education reported more positive attitudes towards immigrants than those with lower level of

education.


11

Table 1

Mean attitudes towards immigrant’s scores in regard to education levels

N M SD

Grade school 69 5.77a 2.71

College 147 6.58ab 2.27

University Bachelor’s degree 120 7.23bc 2.17

University Masters or Ph.D degree 78 7.65c 2.21

Note. Means with the same subscript did not differ from each other.

Bonferroni post hoc test revealed that positive attitudes towards immigrants were

significantly higher in the University Masters or Ph.D degree group compared to College (p =

.006) and Grade school (p < .001). However, there was no significant difference when the

University Master or Ph.D degree group was compared to the University Bachelor’s degree (p

= .432). Furthermore, the University Bachelor’s degree group had significantly more positive

attitudes towards immigrants compared to Grade school (p < .001), but not compared to

College (p = .136).

To examine if the relationship between education and attitudes towards immigrants

was mediated by perceived job threat we first examined the relationship between education

and perceived job threat. The results from ANOVA revealed that there was a significant

association between education and perceived job threat (F(3, 410) 5.17, p = .002). Bonferroni

showed that individuals with lower levels of education perceived more job threat, Grade

school (M = 3.04, SE = .13), College (M = 2.70, SE = .09), University Bachelor’s degree (M =

2.48, SE = .10) and University Masters or Ph.D degree (M = 2.44, SE = .12). We next

examined the relationship between job threat and attitudes towards immigrants. Higher levels

of job threat were significantly associated with higher levels of negative attitudes towards

immigrants (F(4, 413) = 22.75, p < .001).


12

Table 2

Mean attitudes towards immigrants in regard to perceived job threat

N M SE

Very little job threat 63 8.32a .27

Quite little job threat 135 7.39a .19

Neither little nor much 126 6.44b .19

Quite much job threat 71 5.83b .26

Very much job threat 23 4.22 .45

Note. Means with the same subscript did not differ from each other.

Bonferroni post hoc test revealed that negative attitudes were statistically lower

among participants with Very much job threat compared to all groups, Very little job threat (p

< .001), Quite little job threat (p < .001) Neither little nor much job threat (p < .001) and

Quite much job threat (p = .02). Insignificant differences were found between Quite much job

threat and Neither little nor much job threat (p = .58) and between Very little job threat and

Quite little job threat (p = .06).

To determine if perceived job treat mediated the relationship between education and

attitudes towards immigrants, the mediator or job threat was enter into the model along with

education to predict attitudes towards immigrants. The result indicated that the effect of

education decreases but continued to have significant effect on attitudes towards immigrants

(F(1, 408) = 18.42, p < .001).

It was also examined whether job threat did mediate the effects of gender on attitudes

towards immigrants. First, as established above, female participants had more positive

attitudes towards immigrants than male participants (F(1, 414) = 8.79, p = .003), see Figure 1

path a. Second, as can be seen in Figure 1 path b, the association between gender and job

threat was significant (F(1, 414) = 9.34, p = .002) with female participants (M = 2.53, SE =


13

.07) feeling less threatened that immigrants will take jobs than male participants (M = 2.88,

SE = .09). Third, as established above (see Table 2 and Figure 1 path c) the association

between job threat and attitudes towards immigrants was significant (F(4, 413) = 22.75, p <

.001). Fourth, when job threat was entered into the model along with gender to predict

attitudes towards immigrants, the relationship between gender and attitude was no longer

significant (F(1, 410) = 3.75, p = .053). Therefor the relationship between gender and

attitudes towards immigrants was mediated by perceived job threat.

Figure 1. Job threat mediated the relationship between gender and attitudes towards

immigrants. The p value, below the line, between gender and attitudes towards immigrants

indicates the relationship between gender and attitudes towards immigrants when only these

variables are in the model and the p value above the line indicates the relationship when job

threat has been entered into the model as well.

Paired samples t-test was computed to examine the hypothesis that individuals would

have more negative attitudes towards out-group members immigrating to Iceland than in-

group members. The results revealed that there was a significant difference in the scores for

in-group members (M = 3.37, SD = .66) and out-group members (M = 3.20, SD = .82)

conditions; t(406)= 8.21, p < .001. These results indicate that attitudes towards immigrants are

significantly more positive towards in-group members than out-group members.


14

Correlation analysis was computed to assess the relationship between perceived

national pride and attitudes towards immigrants. There was a weak but significant negative

correlation between the two variables (r = -.145, N = 403, p = .004). Higher levels of national

pride were associated with more negative attitudes towards immigrants.

To examine whether the relationship between immigrant´s group membership would

be moderated by perceived national pride, univariate analyses was used. When entering pride,

out-group membership and their interaction into the model the results revealed that the main

effect for pride was insignificant (F(2, 377) = .17, p = .84). The main effect for out-group

membership was significant (F(6, 377) = 70.40, p < .001) and the interaction was not

significant (F(12, 377) = 1.16, p = .31).

When pride, in-group membership and their interaction was entered into the model,

results revealed that main effect for pride was insignificant (F(2, 377) = .25, p = .78). The

main effect for in-group membership was significant (F(6, 377) = 53.21, p < .001) and the

interaction was not significant (F(6, 377) = 1.76, p = .11). These results indicate that the

relationship between attitudes towards immigrants and immigrants’ group membership, is not

moderated by national pride.

Discussion

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between attitudes

towards immigrants in Iceland and education, gender, in-groups and out-groups, national

pride and perceived job threat. The main findings were that lower education, perceiving that

immigrants take jobs away from Icelandic citizens and feeling national pride in being

Icelandic were associated with negative attitudes towards immigrants. Males had more

negative attitudes towards immigrants than females and this relationship was due to their

perception that immigrants take jobs from Icelanders. Lastly, attitudes were also more


15

negative towards out-groups, or immigrants from nations dissimilar to Iceland than among in-

group immigrants.

The results supported the hypotheses that males and individuals with lower education

have more negative attitudes towards immigrants in Iceland than females and individuals with

higher education. These finding are in line with previous published studies which have shown

that males (Hernes & Knudsen, 1992; Sugiura et al., 2017) and individuals with lower levels

of education (Jenssen & Engesbak, 1994; Blom, 2010; Hainmueller & Hopkins, 2014; Brylka

et al., 2015) have more negative attitudes towards immigrants than females and individuals

with higher levels of education.

The literature indicates that one of the main reasons for these findings is that males

and individuals with lower levels of education perceive that immigrants compete with them

for jobs on the market (Jenssen & Engesbak, 1994; Hernes & Knudsen 1992). Our findings

are partially in line with this hypothesis. The relationship between gender and attitudes

towards immigrants was mediated by perceived job threat. That is, males had more negative

attitudes towards immigrants and they perceived more job threats from immigrants than

females, which in turn accounted for their more negative attitudes towards immigrants. On the

other hand the relationship between education and attitudes towards immigrants was not

mediated by perceived job threat. Further studies are needed to examine the relationship

between education and attitudes towards immigrants.

The results supported the hypothesis that individuals have more negative attitudes

towards out-group members immigrating to Iceland than in-group members. These findings

are in line with previous studies (Berry & Kalin, 1995; Pettigrew, 1998; Stephan et al., 1999;

Fetzer, 2000; Riek et al., 2006; Schneider, 2008; Kanas et al., 2017). For example,

Schneider’s (2008) study indicated that attitudes towards immigrants in Europe were more

negative towards non-Western immigrants. It was hypothesized that the relationship between


16

immigrant’s group membership would be moderated by perceived national pride, such that

those with low levels of national pride would have similar attitudes towards in-groups and

out-groups, while those with high levels of national pride would have more favorable

attitudes towards in-groups than out-groups. Although national pride was associated with

higher levels of negative attitude towards immigrants, the relationship between immigrant’s

group membership was not moderated by perceived national pride. These findings are not in

line with previous studies (Valk & Karu, 2001; Sides & Citrin, 2007; Zick et al., 2008).

According to Valk and Karu (2001), individuals that have strong ethnic identity and pride

seem to have more negative attitudes towards other ethnic groups, although attitudes have

been shown to be more positive towards culturally similar groups (Valk & Karu, 2001).

Reasons for these discrepant findings may be that in the present study, the measurement for

out-groups may have been perceived as too culturally similar to Icelandic individuals. This

might have resulted in individuals not assessing the out-group immigrants as negatively as

was expected. Another possible explanation for these results, is that national pride was only

assessed with one question, which might not have capture the whole dimension of the

phenomenon “national pride”.

The current study had some limitations. The sample is limited because it was a

convenience sample gathered with an online survey on the researcher’s Facebook, thus results

from this study cannot be generalizable to all Icelanders. Furthermore, gender distribution was

not equal with females 66.3% and males 33.3%. Lastly, due to the correlational nature of the

study design, nothing can be said about causality.

On the other hand, present study had several strengths. The procedure did not require

financing, it was simple, instructions were clear and participation was not time-consuming, or

around 5-10 minutes. Age was acceptably equal between groups, or 18-24 years old (18.2%),

25-34 years old (30.9%), 35-44 years old (16.5%), 45-54 years old (16.5%) and 55 years and


17

older (17.7%). Present study had anonymity, which is a great strength because it can increase

the probability that participants answer honestly.

The present findings suggest the education aimed at addressing perceived job threats

and information about immigrants from non-Western societies or out-groups, may improve

attitudes towards immigrants and reinforce positive interactions between Icelanders and

immigrants from various areas of the world. Future studies should aim at developing methods

that work to improve attitudes towards immigrants and perform long-term studies to track

changes, and predictors of changes, in attitudes towards immigrants while using such

methods. Future studies should include larger and more diverse samples in order to increase

external validity. Immigrants here in Iceland have become a part of our nation and studies of

this nature can help us understand and change attitudes towards immigrants for the better.


18

References

Adelowo, A., Smythe, L., & Nakhid, C. (2016). Deciding to migrate: Stories of

African immigrant women living in New Zealand. Aotearoa New Zealand

Social Work, 28(1), 52.

Azrout, R., van Spanje, J., & de Vreese, C. (2011). Talking Turkey: Anti-immigrant

attitudes and their effect on support for Turkish membership of the EU.

European Union Politics, 12(1), 3–19.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116510389498

Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in

social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical

considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173–

1182. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.51.6.1173

Bask, M. (2005). Welfare problems and social exclusion among immigrants in

Sweden. European Sociological Review, 21(1), 73–89.

https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jci005

Berry, J. W., & Kalin, R. (1995). Multicultural and ethnic attitudes in Canada: An

overview of the 1991 National Survey. Canadian Journal of Behavioural

Science, 27(3), 301–320. https://doi.org/10.1037/0008-400X.27.3.301

Blom, S. (2010). Attitudes towards immigrants and immigration. Immigration and

Immigrants 2010, 133–149.

Brylka, A., Mähönen, T. A., & Jasinskaja-Lahti, I. (2015). National identification and

attitudes towards Russian immigrants in Finland: Investigating the role of

perceived threats and gains. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 56(6), 670–

677. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12242


19

Doane, A. W. (1997). Dominant group ethnic identity in the United States: The role

of “hidden” ethnicity in intergroup relations. The Sociological Quarterly,

38(3), 375–397. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1997.tb00483.x

Esses, V. M., Dovidio, J. F., & Hodson, G. (2002). Public attitudes toward

immigration in the United States and Canada in response to the September 11,

2001 “Attack on America.” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 2(1),

69–85. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-2415.2002.00028.x

Esses, V. M., Hamilton, L. K., & Gaucher, D. (2017). The global refugee crisis:

Empirical evidence and policy implications for improving public attitudes and

facilitating refugee resettlement. Social Issues and Policy Review, 11(1), 78–

123. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12028

European Social Survey, (2012). ESS Round 6 Source Questionnaire. London: Centre

for Comparative Social Surveys, City University London. Retrieved from

http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/docs/round6/fieldwork/iceland/ESS6_m

ain_and_supplementary_questionnaire_IS.pdf

EVS (2008): European Values Study 2008: Integrated Dataset (EVS 2008). GESIS

Data Archive, Cologne. ZA4800 Data file Version 4.0.0. Retrieved from

https://dbk.gesis.org/dbksearch/sdesc2.asp?no=4800&db=e&doi=10.4232/1.1

0059

Fetzer, J. S. (2000). Economic self-interest or cultural marginality? Anti-immigration

sentiment and nativist political movements in France, Germany and the USA.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 26(1), 5–23.

https://doi.org/10.1080/136918300115615


20

Hainmueller, J., & Hiscox, M. J. (2007). Educated preferences: Explaining attitudes

toward immigration in Europe. International Organization, 61(2), 399–442.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818307070142

Hainmueller, J., & Hopkins, D. (2014). Public attitudes toward immigration. Annual

Review of Political Science, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-

102512-194818

Hernes, G., & Knudsen, K. (1992). Norwegians’ attitudes toward new immigrants.

Acta Sociologica, 35(2), 123–139.

Hunt, D. F. (2016). Out-group members. In V. Weekes-Shackelford, T. K.

Shackelford, & V. A. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of

Evolutionary Psychological Science (pp. 1–4). Springer International

Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2980-1

Inga Dóra Sigfúsdóttir, Bryndís Björk Ásgeirsdóttir, Álfgeir Logi Kristjánsson, & Jón

Sigfússon. (n.d.). Félagslegir bakgrunnsþættir og viðhorf ungs fólks til

innflytjenda á Íslandi: Rannsókn meðal nemenda í grunn- og framhaldsskólum

á Íslandi árin 1997 til 2004. Rannsóknir & Greining, 1–43.

Innflytjendum heldur áfram að fjölga. (2016). Retrieved March 25, 2017, from

http://hagstofa.is/utgafur/frettasafn/mannfjoldi/innflytjendur-1-januar-2016/

Innflytjendur og einstaklingar með erlendan bakgrunn. (2015, október). Retrieved

February 27, 2017, from

http://hagstofa.is/utgafur/frettasafn/mannfjoldi/innflytjendur-og-einstaklingar-

med-erlendan-bakgrunn/

Jenssen, A. T., & Engesbak, H. (1994). The many faces of education: why are people

with lower education more hostile towards immigrants than people with


21

higher education? Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 38(1), 33–

50. https://doi.org/10.1080/0031383940380103

Johnston, D. W., & Lordan, G. (2016). Racial prejudice and labour market penalties

during economic downturns. European Economic Review, 84, 57–75.

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2015.07.011

Kanas, A., Scheepers, P., & Sterkens, C. (2017). Positive and negative contact and

attitudes towards the religious out-group: Testing the contact hypothesis in

conflict and non-conflict regions of Indonesia and the Philippines. Social

Science Research, 63, 95–110.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.09.019

Kuntz, A., Davidov, E., & Semyonov, M. (2017). The dynamic relations between

economic conditions and anti-immigrant sentiment: A natural experiment in

times of the European economic crisis. International Journal of Comparative

Sociology, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020715217690434

Mayda, A. M. (2006). Who is against immigration? A cross-country investigation of

individual attitudes toward immigrants. The Review of Economics and

Statistics, 88(3), 510–530. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest.88.3.510

Migliori, G. B., Fattorini, L., Vaccarino, P., Besozzi, G., Saltini, C., Orefici, G., …

SMIRA (Italian Multicentre Study on Resistance to Anti-tuberculosis drugs)

Study Group. (2002). Prevalence of resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs:

results of the 1998/99 national survey in Italy. The International Journal of

Tuberculosis and Lung Disease: The Official Journal of the International

Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 6(1), 32–38.

Olatubosun, M. A. (2016). International migration and the conduit pipe syndrome.

Journal of Public Affairs, n/a-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1610


22

Pettigrew, T. F. (1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of Psychology,

49(1), 65–85. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.65

Riek, B. M., Mania, E. W., & Gaertner, S. L. (2006). Intergroup threat and outgroup

attitudes: a meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review:

An Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc,

10(4), 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr1004_4

Schneider, S. L. (2008). Anti-immigrant attitudes in Europe: Outgroup size and

perceived ethnic threat. European Sociological Review, 24(1), 53–67.

https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcm034

Sides, J., & Citrin, J. (2007). European opinion about immigration: The role of

identities, interests and information. British Journal of Political Science,

37(3), 477–504. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123407000257

Sigríður Elín Þórðardóttir. (n.d.). Erlendir ríkisborgarar í íslensku samfélagi.

Byggðastofnun.

Stephan, W. G., Ybarra, O., & Bachman, G. (1999). Prejudice toward immigrants.

Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29(11), 2221–2237.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1999.tb00107.x

Sugiura, H., Mifune, N., Tsuboi, S., & Yokota, K. (2017). Gender differences in

intergroup conflict: The effect of outgroup threat priming on social dominance

orientation. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 262–265.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.08.013

Tropp, L. R., & Wright, S. C. (2001). Ingroup identification as the inclusion of

ingroup in the self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(5), 585–

600. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167201275007


23

Valk, A., & Karu, K. (2001). Ethnic attitudes in relation to ethnic pride and ethnic

differentiation. The Journal of Social Psychology, 141(5), 583–601.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00224540109600573

Verkuyten, M., & Yildiz, A. A. (2007). National (dis)identification and ethnic and

religious identity: A study among Turkish-Dutch muslims. Personality and

Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(10), 1448–1462.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167207304276

Wheeler, D. P., & Mahoney, A. M. (2008). Caribbean immigrants in the United

States-health and health care: The need for a social agenda. Health & Social

Work; Oxford, 33(3), 238–40.

Zick, A., Pettigrew, T. F., & Wagner, U. (2008). Ethnic prejudice and discrimination

in Europe. Journal of Social Issues, 64(2), 233–251.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00559.x

attitudes towards immigrants in iceland: in-groups and out

Documents