Prediction of negative attitudes toward Australian asylum seekers: False

beliefs, nationalism, and self-esteem

ANNE PEDERSEN, JON ATTWELL, & DIANA HEVELI
School of Psychology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia
Abstract
Over the last few years in Australia, the issue of asylum seekers has been a signicant feature of the media, and a topic that
many people feel very strongly about. However, there is little empirical research regarding attitudes toward asylum seekers.
The purpose of the present study was to examine such attitudes in the Perth community, and what predicts them. In Study 1,
an Attitudes Toward Asylum Seekers (ATAS) scale was constructed. In Study 2, self-esteem, national identity, false beliefs,
and sociodemographics were used in an attempt to predict ATAS in a random survey of the Perth metropolitan area. Results
indicated a weak correlation between high self-esteem and negative attitudes, and a strong correlation between a high level of
false beliefs and negative attitudes. As a result of this latter relationship, two hierarchical regression equations were
constructed: one predicting negative attitudes, the other predicting false beliefs. Regarding the ATAS scale, being male,
higher levels of education, right-wing political position, and high levels of national identity had signicant predictive value.
Regarding the false beliefs scale, higher levels of education, right-wing political position, high levels of national identity, and
increased age had signicant predictive value. Given the large number of participants who scored above the midpoint of the
ATAS scale, coupled with the high level of false beliefs reported, we suggest that a great deal of education about asylum
seekers is called for.
Over the last few years, issues surrounding asylum
seekers have received a good deal of community
attention. Specic issues such as mandatory deten-
tion and so-called queue jumping have stirred strong
positive and negative feelings within the Australian
community. The Australian government has taken a
strong stance against asylum seekers, and has placed
them in detention for long periods of time. Many
issues involving asylum seekers have received intense
media coverage (e.g., the United Nations criticism
of the Australian Governments policies). In short,
West Australians have been exposed to a great deal of
publicity about the asylum seeker issue. And
judging by most polls the public appears to be
suffering from compassion fatigue with respect to the
situation of asylum seekers (Hage, 2003, p. 7). In
other words, they agree with the Federal Govern-
ments tough stance.
Not surprisingly, given the recency of events, there
is little research examining Australian peoples
attitudes toward asylum seekers. The research
reported here examines the extent to which false
beliefs, nationalism, self-esteem, and sociodemo-
graphics relate to attitudes toward asylum seekers.
We hope that the ndings will contribute not only to
the development of theoretical knowledge in the
area, but may also have practical implications. An
important component of the study was the develop-
ment of a quantitative scale to measure attitudes
toward asylum seekers based on qualitative data
collected from the Perth community. We shall
discuss relevant research ndings relating to the
prejudice eld, as well as the literature relating to
false beliefs, nationalism, self-esteem, and socio-
demographics.
Prejudice
As noted by a number of authors, prejudice is not a
static phenomenon (e.g., Brown, 1995). Research
has distinguished between two kinds of prejudice
(Duckitt, 1992; Pedersen & Walker, 1997): an old-
fashioned form characterised by overt hostility and
rejection, and a modern form that is more subtle and
covert and involves individualistic values. Brown
suggests that the origins of modern prejudice are
Correspondence: A. Pedersen, School of Psychology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia. E-mail: A.Pedersen@murdoch.edu.au
Australian Journal of Psychology, Vol. 57, No. 3, December 2005, pp. 148 160.
ISSN 0004-9530 print/ISSN 1742-9536 online The Australian Psychological Society Ltd
Published by Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/00049530500125157
negative affect coupled with perceived violations (by
minority groups) of traditional individualistic values.
Most empirical work on modern prejudice has been
North American (e.g., Kinder, 1986; McConahay,
1986; McConahay, Hardee, & Batts, 1981; McCo-
nahay & Hough, 1976), with some having been
conducted in Europe (e.g., Akrami, Ekehammar, &
Araya, 2000; Pettigrew & Meertens, 1995), and
others being conducted in Australia (Augoustinos,
Rapley, & Tufn, 1999; Pedersen & Walker, 1997).
In the Perth setting, Pedersen and Walker (1997)
found that although factor analysis showed that old
fashioned and modern prejudice were seperable,
they were moderately correlated (.55). In another
Australian study, Fraser and Islam (2000) found
symbolic and blatant racism to be correlated (.62),
as did Pedersen, Contos, Grifths, Bishop, and
Walker (2000) (.72). But how different are they in
effect? They seem to have different predictive
value. For example, Pedersen and Walker (1997)
and McConahay (1982) found that more variance was
explained using a modern prejudice measure com-
pared with an old-fashioned prejudice measure.
Conversely, although Pettigrew and Meertens gener-
ally found similar correlates for both blatant and subtle
scales, the blatant scales tended to have stronger
predictability. In particular, a stronger relationship was
found between blatant prejudice and the blatant
outcome racist movement approval.
It is worth noting that the modern prejudice
construct is now over 25 years old, and may no
longer be modern. In fact, recent research indicates
that the modern/old-fashioned distinction may not
be so straightforward as originally thought. For
example, Pedersen, Beven, Grifths, and Walker
(2004) developed a quantitative scale measuring
attitudes toward Indigenous Australians based on
qualitative data collected from the Perth community,
and found that it had one meaningful factor.
Although some items reected modern and old-
fashioned scales, many did not, suggesting that when
people talked about prejudice, the structure of their
talk did not mirror previous theoretical positions.
At the time of conducting the present study, little
research examined community attitudes toward
asylum seekers. However, in a review by Betts
(2001), it was found that people are becoming
increasingly hostile toward asylum seekers. To our
knowledge, no published research exists examining
what may predict negative attitudes toward asylum
seekers or indeed even a scale to do so (modern, old-
fashioned, or otherwise). Given that the modern
prejudice construct is North American based, and
involves prejudice toward ethnic minority groups in
that context, it may or may not be applicable to
asylum seekers in the Australian setting. Thus, we
aim to construct a scale starting from the ground up
(i.e., from qualitative data collected in the Western
Australian context). We also aim to examine whether
variables that have predicted prejudice against other
cultural groups in past research also predict attitudes
toward asylum seekers.
Group and personal evaluations
One of the most prominent theoretical positions in
the social psychology of intergroup behaviour is that
of Tajfel and Turner (1979) who developed social
identity theory (SIT). They posit that social beha-
viour can be seen to be on a behavioural continuum
from interpersonal behaviour (interactions between
individuals completely unaffected by social categor-
isation) to intergroup behaviour (interactions
between individuals or groups completely deter-
mined by social categorisation). Further, the more
intense an intergroup conict, the more that
individuals in opposing groups will behave as a
function of their group memberships. Central to SIT
is the issue of positive group distinctiveness. Here,
we need to feel good about our ingroup. For
example, Turner, Brown, and Tajfel (1979) found
that participants gave up group prot to achieve
intergroup differences in money favouring their
ingroup. The giving up of group prot affected
participants personal prot, because they received
an equal amount of the money awarded to their
ingroup. The authors hypothesised that ingroup
favouritism helps to achieve positive group distinc-
tiveness thereby enhancing self-esteem. Related to
social identity theory is self-categorisation theory.
Theorists such as Turner and Oakes (1989) posit
that there are three broad self-categorisation levels:
superordinate (e.g., a human being), intermediate
(eg, an ethnic identity), or subordinate (e.g., a
person in his or her own right). In certain circum-
stances, people may dene themselves more as a
group member than as an individual, or vice versa.
Social psychology has often been challenged with
ignoring societal processes while concentrating on
the individual (the crisis in social psychology). In
other words, it is necessary to address the social
context when investigating individual processes. As
pointed out by Reynolds, Turner, Haslam, and Ryan
(2001), relying on personality attributes to explain
prejudice ignores the fact that discrimination be-
tween groups increases and decreases over time.
Another problem with relying upon this individual
approach to prejudice is that the same individuals
often have varying prejudiced views depending on
the target group. For example, Walker (1994) found
that Indigenous Australians were at the bottom of the
pecking order, followed by Asian Australians. In a
recent study by Pedersen, Clarke, Dudgeon, and
Grifths (in press), asylum seekers were at the
Attitudes towards asylum seekers 149
bottom of the pecking order, followed by Indigenous
Australians, followed by Asian peoples. Clearly,
there is not a prejudiced personality who is pre-
judiced against all others in an equal fashion.
Related to the group/personal distinction, we are
interested in how nationalism and self-esteem relate
to negative attitudes toward asylum seekers. These
two constructs are at opposite ends of the group/
personal continuum and will be discussed in turn.
Nationalism (group self-evaluation). Social identity
refers to the part of the individuals self-concept that
derives from their knowledge of their membership of
a social group or groups (Tajfel & Turner, 1979).
Here, comparisons are made between specic social
groups that involve collective understandings (Rey-
nolds et al., 2001). The imagery of nationalism must
involve an otherness; for example, criminals, youth,
or asylum seekers (Hage, 2003). In the present study
we categorised national identity as a specic form of
social identity. The more strongly a person identies
with a particular group, the more that group and its
relations with other groups will affect that person and
direct his or her beliefs and behaviours (e.g., Tajfel &
Turner). Intergroup relations are of little conse-
quence to someone who is apathetic about the
groups involved.
Some empirical studies have been undertaken that
examined the relationship between nationalism and
prejudice. Some research nds a positive relationship
between the two. In a European study, Pettigrew and
Meertens (1995) examined the relationship between
national pride exhibited by British, Dutch, French or
German participants and blatant and subtle forms of
prejudice. Results indicated that national pride
signicantly predicted both forms of prejudice. In
another study by Mummendy, Klink, and Brown
(2001), the relationship between national identica-
tion and outgroup rejection was examined. Their
results supported the fundamental SIT assumption
that identication with ones ingroup (nationally
dened) was associated with positive ingroup evalua-
tions; also, strongly identifying with ones ingroup
was associated with negative outgroup evaluations.
In the Australian setting, prejudice against In-
digenous Australians has also been associated with
nationalism (Pedersen & Walker, 1997). In their
study, they found that national identity of being an
Australian related to modern prejudice against
Indigenous Australians. As these authors noted, the
association between strength of national identity and
modern prejudice is consistent with social identity
theory in that the more strongly a person identies
with a particular group, the more that group and its
relations with other groups will affect that person and
direct his or her beliefs and behaviours (e.g., Tajfel &
Turner, 1979). Also in the Australian setting, F. L.
Jones (1997) found a positive relationship between
national identity and prejudice (or, more precisely,
social distance) against a number of cultural groups
such as Indigenous Australians, Lebanese Austra-
lians, and Vietnamese Australians.
Prejudice can also be manipulated by making
certain identities salient. In a Dutch study, Verkuy-
ten (1998) found that prejudice was predicted by
level of self-categorisation: personal or national.
When national identity was made salient, stereotypes
about the Dutch affected prejudice scores. When
personal identity was made salient, authoritarian
attitudes affected prejudice scores. As they note,
when a particular identity is salient, people think and
behave in line with those beliefs. Similarly, Reynolds
et al. (2001) found that the correlation between
prejudice against Indigenous Australians and author-
itarianism was statistically signicant when personal
identity was made salient; no such relationship was
found when national identity was made salient.
Thus, whether there was relationship between pre-
judice and authoritarianism depended upon the self-
categorisation of the participant.
Billig (1995) also makes a link between negativity
toward other cultural groups and nationalism. He
argues that the concept of community underlies both
racism and nationalism. In other words, the racist
distinguishes between our racial community and
their racial community. Similarly, nationalism is
also a theory of community, a natural divide into
specic communities: ours and theirs. Thus,
there is both theoretical and empirical evidence to
link prejudice against different cultural groups and
nationalism.
Self-esteem (or positive self-evaluation). As noted
here, Tajfel and Turner (1979) draw a distinction
between the individual and the group. For the
purposes of the present study, self-esteem falls closer
to the individual end of the Tajfel and Turner
(1979) continuum than the group end (although
attitudes per se could be said to represent the
individualist level of prejudice; e.g., J. J. Jones,
1997). Thus, while nationalism may signal between-
group attitudes, self-esteem may signal within-group
attitudes (e.g., Smith & Tyler, 1997).
Some research has been performed on the
relationship between prejudice and self-esteem.
However, the direction of such a relationship is not
clear-cut. For example, Bagley, Verma, Mallick, and
Young (1979) found that high school students with
low self-esteem tended to be more prejudiced against
African Americans than those with high self-esteem.
It is worth noting, however, that the relationship was
small. Bagley et al. argued that to devalue others
enhances the self, and to focus on increasing self-
esteem might indirectly reduce prejudice. However,
150 A. Pedersen et al.
Baumeister (1993) argued that although negative
views of others may bolster ones self worth, the
effects do not last. Similar results have been found
when examining the relationship between negative
attitudes toward women and self-esteem. For exam-
ple, Valentine (1998) found that men who were low
in self-esteem were more opposed to womens
employment and were more in favour of traditional
roles.
However, some minimal group paradigm experi-
ments found that participants who discriminated
against members of an outgroup showed higher self-
esteem than those who did not (e.g., Lemyre &
Smith, 1985; Oakes & Turner, 1980). Along the
same lines, Utsey, McCarthy, Eubanks, and Adrian
(2002) examined the relationships between racism
and self-esteem with white undergraduate students
in America and found that people with high self-
esteem were more prejudiced. Although this rela-
tionship was statistically signicant, it was very small.
Conversely, other studies nd no signicant relation-
ship between ingroup bias and self-concept
(Pedersen with Dudgeon, 2003, with both Indigen-
ous and non-Indigenous-Australian children).
To make muddy waters even murkier, domain-
specic levels of self-esteem have been found to be
relevant in some circumstances and not in others.
Hunter, Platow, Bell, Kypri, and Lewis (1997) found
that although intergroup bias did not affect global
self-esteem, it did affect domain-specic self-esteem
levels. However, Hunter (2001) examined the
relationship between self-esteem and ingroup bias
(Christian vs. atheist) of Christian participants in
New Zealand. He found that regardless of whether
their ingroup was portrayed as positive or negative,
their self-esteem levels (religious, global or mathe-
matical) remained constant.
Clearly, there are ambiguities and inconsistencies
in the literature with respect to prejudice and self-
esteem. While some studies nd a negative relation-
ship between prejudice and self-esteem, this is not
always the case. And the question remains as to
whether people hold their views in order to elevate
self-esteem, or to maintain self-esteem. Regardless of
the direction, it is important to note that effect sizes
are small. However, based on SIT, we predict that
nationalism should be more linked to negative
attitudes toward asylum seekers given the group
nature of nationalism.
False beliefs
Allport (1954) in his much-quoted work on pre-
judice described prejudice as an antipathy based on
faulty and inexible generalisations. This indicates
that he saw faulty beliefs as a signicant cause of
prejudice. In attitude theory generally beliefs, and
this includes stereotypes, play an important role in
the formation and modication of attitudes (Eagly,
1992). There are many different ways of dening
beliefs (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993) and, following on
from that, differing opinions as to the legitimacy of
the notion of false beliefs. For the purpose of this
research, we dene false beliefs as the acceptance of
certain incorrect facts; false beliefs can serve as
currency for everyday people and conversations.
Some researchers argue that truth or falsity may be
hard to ascertain, and ideologies can serve to
legitimise inequality regardless of their truth/falsity
(Sidanius, Levin, Federico, & Pratto, 2001). Others
argue that it is not useful to make distinctions
between truth and falsity at all (e.g., Potter, 1996)
and that, indeed, truth may be more fruitfully likened
to an economic commodity: it can be worked up,
can uctuate, and can be strengthened or weakened
by various procedures of representation (p. 5). We
believe, however, that there are certain societal
beliefs that are factually incorrect and which may
serve to legitimise inequality. In other words, there
are some beliefs that can be veried (or falsied) by
making the appropriate investigations. For example,
initially many Australians falsely believed that there
was evidence that asylum seekers from the SIEV 4
threw their children overboard; this view was
publicised and given credibility by the then Coalition
Minister of Defence, Peter Reith. However, this was
not the case (for a full discussion see Brennan, 2003;
Mares, 2001; Marr & Wilkinson, 2003).
There is little empirical research linking prejudice
with false beliefs. However, Allports hypothesis has
been supported in one study conducted by Pedersen,
Grifths, Contos, Bishop, & Walker (2000) regard-
ing the prediction of prejudice against Indigenous
Australians in a city and country location (Perth and
Kalgoorlie). Here, many respondents indicated they
thought one or more of three false statements were
true. For example, two thirds of people were
inaccurate in that they believed being Indigenous
entitled people to more social security benets.
There was a signicant correlation between a false
beliefs scale and both modern prejudice (r =.59 in
Perth; r =.60 in Kalgoorlie) and between the false
beliefs scale and old-fashioned prejudice (r =.49 in
Perth; r =.47 in Kalgoorlie). In a later Perth study,
using a different prejudice scale, these results were
replicated (Pedersen, 2004). In this latter study, a
signicant correlation was found between negative
attitudes toward Indigenous Australians and false
beliefs (r =.57). These ndings have important
practical implications. For example, a Victorian
study by Batterham (2001) not only found a
signicant relationship between prejudice against
Indigenous Australians and false beliefs, but also
found that participants whose false beliefs were
Attitudes towards asylum seekers 151
challenged scored signicantly lower on modern
prejudice compared with a control group.
We have noted the existence of false beliefs about
Indigenous Australians. There are also false beliefs
about asylum seekers (e.g., Edmund Rice Centre,
2002). We describe two such false beliefs below from
their book chapter Rebutting the myths.
1. The rst false belief is that asylum seekers are
queue jumpers. The truth behind the queue
jumpers is that there are no queues for people
in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan to jump
because there are no Australian consulates
within the surrounding nations. In fact, the two
main nationalities of asylum seekers in 1998
were Iraq and Afghanistan (Refugee Council of
Australia, 2002). Additionally, many people who
seek asylum do not know of the queues they are
meant to join (Mares, 2002) and often do not
have the time to join queues (Einfeld, 2002).
2. A second false belief is that asylum seekers must
be cashed up to pay people smugglers. Yet,
often individuals or families eeing persecution
have a network of people who make sacrices
and sell possessions to ensure the safety of those
being persecuted. As an aside, there are also false
beliefs within false beliefs. One respondent in a
similar research project informed us that asylum
seekers become cashed up by robbing banks
before they leave (Grifths & Pedersen, 2003).
3. A third false belief identied by the Refugee
Council (2002) is that Australia provides asylum
seekers with all sorts of government handouts.
Yet asylum seekers receive little nancial help
until they are recognised as refugees, when they
have much the same entitlements as other
Australians. Furthermore, if they have only
temporary protection visas, they have fewer
entitlements (Department of Immigration and
Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, 2002).
Given the fact that there is little empirical evidence
with respect to negative attitudes toward asylum
seekers, it is not surprising that none exists that
examines the relation to such attitudes and false
beliefs. However, given the previous literature dis-
cussed here with respect to Indigenous Australians, it
is predicted that a moderate relationship should exist
between false beliefs and negative attitudes toward
asylum seekers.
Sociodemographic variables
Some research has found relationships between
certain sociodemographic variables and prejudice.
For example, lower levels of formal education, right-
wing political orientation, and being male have been
linked with both modern and old-fashioned preju-
dice (e.g., Pedersen & Walker, 1997; Pedersen,
Walker, Contos & Bishop, 1997). Also, increasing
age has been linked to both forms of prejudice
(Pedersen et al., 1997).
Because age, political orientation, gender and level
of education have been shown to be predictors of
prejudice in past research, it is useful to assess their
importance with the social psychological variables
described here.
Overview of the present study
To our knowledge there is no quantitative scale to
measure attitudes toward asylum seekers. Nor is
there any empirical evidence linking false beliefs,
national identity, and self-esteem to such attitudes
toward asylum seekers. Thus, our primary aim was to
examine how the people of Perth, Western Australia,
viewed asylum seekers and issues surrounding them
by constructing a quantitative scale, and also to
examine what variables predict such attitudes. We
were particularly interested in whether the moderate
relationship between prejudice against Indigenous
Australians and false beliefs found in previous
Australian studies would be found with respect to
asylum seekers using a similar method of data
collection.
More specically, based on previous prejudice
literature, it was hypothesised that the negative
attitudes toward asylum seekers would be linked
with the acceptance of false beliefs and high levels of
national identity. No specic hypothesis was made
regarding the role of self-esteem. However, based on
SIT, we hypothesised that any effect would be
smaller than that of national identity. Finally, we
were interested to examine the role of sociodemo-
graphics on such negative attitudes.
Methods
Procedure: Study 1
The aim of Study 1 was to establish a general idea
of what Perth people think about asylum seekers for
the purpose of developing an Attitudes Toward
Asylum Seekers (ATAS) scale. Using the 1996
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) socio-
economic status (SES) data for the Perth metropo-
litan area (ABS, 1996), four suburbs (one low, two
middle, one high) were chosen as being representa-
tive of those SES suburbs, as well as their proximity
to large shopping centres. Data collection occurred
in May/June 2002 and involved researchers obtain-
ing comments from people at such shopping centres
on asylum seekers. In total, 100 people were
interviewed. There were unambiguous negative
152 A. Pedersen et al.
comments (All should be shot and sent back) as
well as unambiguous positive comments (Let them
in you big meanies). Several other themes presented
themselves. That is, false beliefs (e.g., I dont know
why they all head for Australia), the role of
government systems (e.g., Go through the proper
systems), implications about what asylumseekers are
like (e.g., Dont know who youre letting in) as well
as what respondents saw asylum seekers behaviour
as being (Stop being violent). When it came to
constructing the statements, the data did not prove as
useful as we had hoped. The types of comments
described here although indicative of particular
attitudes were difcult to translate into survey
questions.
Therefore, we perused 12 months of letters to the
editor of the West Australian newspaper to enlarge on
the previous pilot study. We attempted to garner
both negative and positive items, as well as the
statements that took into account perceived personal
characteristics of asylum seekers as well as more
societal/government issues. In constructing the scale,
we excluded all false beliefs as set out by the Edmund
Rice Centre (2002) and the Refugee Council (2002)
because an aim of the present study was to measure
the relationship between false beliefs and negative
attitudes (to recap, there was a moderate relationship
between false beliefs and prejudice in the Pedersen et
al., 2000, study). Together with some comments
from the original shopping centre data collection, 25
statements were deemed satisfactory and covered
both positive and negative items. We then con-
structed a questionnaire revolving around those 25
statements, and piloted them on a convenience
sample of approximately 20 people. Feedback was
given regarding wording and ease of understanding.
This feedback resulted in a few minor changes and
some ATAS statements being removed, leaving a
total of 18 items (Appendix A). Given the small
number of respondents, no psychometrics were
calculated.
Procedure: Study 2
Using the 1996 ABS data on SES in the Perth
metropolitan area, four suburbs were randomly
chosen in July 2002. One suburb was low SES, one
was high SES, and two were middle SES (more
Perth residents are middle SES compared with low
or high). A questionnaire and accompanying letter
were delivered to 500 respondents, and 3 weeks later
a reminder letter was delivered. Half of the ques-
tionnaires asked for a male respondent to complete
the survey if it were possible, the other half, female. A
total of 157 questionnaires were returned, giving a
response rate of 31% (more details on participants is
given later in this paper).
Measures
Scales were used to measure attitudes toward asylum
seekers, national identity, and self-esteem. In each
case, items were responded to on a 7-point Likert
scale (1, disagree strongly to 7, agree strongly). The
scale used to measure false beliefs about asylum
seekers was responded to on a 3-point scale: true,
dont know, false. After appropriate recoding,
responses to items in each scale were averaged. High
scores indicated greater negative attitudes, national
identity and self-esteem, together with higher levels
of false beliefs.
Attitudes toward asylum seekers. This was measured
using the scale constructed in Study 1. The scale had
18 items, nine of which were positive and nine,
negative. An example of an ATAS item is Asylum
seekers are manipulative in the way that they engage
in self-harm protesting such as self-mutilation and
So-called asylum seekers are people eeing the
chaos of war and the cruelties of monstrous
regimes.
We have chosen the label asylum seeker instead
of other labels such as refugee or illegal
immigrant. In the Australian context, refugees are
usually accepted as such overseas through ofcial
procedures. Conversely, asylum seekers are often
people making a claim for refugee status that has yet
to be determined; they are often refugees but are not
recognised as such at this stage (see Refugee Council
of Australia, 2002, for a more detailed explanation of
this difference). We also chose not to use the label
illegal immigrant. Requesting asylum is not illegal;
it is permitted by both international and Australian
law (Einfeld, 2002). These issues aside, in the pilot
study, we asked respondents what term they usually
used. Results indicated that the largest number of
respondents (31%) used asylum seeker (25% said
illegal immigrant, 20% said boat people, and 24%
said refugee).
False beliefs. Two statements taken from Rebut-
ting the myths (Edmund Rice Centre, Notre Dame
University, June 2002) and one statement taken from
Myths about refugees (Refugee Council, 2002)
were presented and responses were given on a 3-
point scale (true; dont know; false). We
used only three items because we intended to
compare results with previous studies regarding
Indigenous Australian prejudice, and wanted to
make the scales as similar as possible. Statements
were as follows:
1. Most asylum seekers are queue jumpers.
2. Asylum seekers must be cashed up (ie, be
nancially well off) to pay people smugglers.
Attitudes towards asylum seekers 153
3. Asylum seekers get all sorts of government
handouts.
National identity. This was measured by a seven-
item scale taken from McGarty et al. (in press) based
on Doosje, Branscombe, Spears, and Manstead
(1998) by asking respondents how much they
identied with being Australian. An example is I
feel strong ties with Australian people.
Self-esteem. This was measured using the Rosen-
berg (1965) 10-item scale (ve items were positive;
ve were negative). For example, On the whole I
am satised with myself.
Sociodemographics. Respondents were asked to state
their age in years, their education level (1, primary
school only; 5, university); political orientation (1, left
wing; 5, right wing), and sex (1, male; 2, female).
Results
Attitudes Toward Asylum Seekers scale
All 18 items were factor-analysed using a principal
components extraction method. The 18 statements
produced three initial factors with eigenvalues 41:
the rst accounting for 52% of the variance, the
second for 8.8% of the variance, and the third for
6.1% of the variance. However, the scree plot clearly
indicated one factor, therefore no rotation was
undertaken (See Turner, 1998, for a discussion on
the issues surrounding the greater-than-1 rule).
Although no method is ideal, given our clear scree
plot, we argue that it is preferable to rely on this
rather than the eigenvalue rule. As Turner notes, the
eigenvalue rule has a number of aws such as the
arbitrary nature of 1.00 as well as sampling error.)
No items produced CITC (Corrected Item-Total
Correlation) under the desired .30 (in fact, all were
4.50) so none was deleted from the scale. Thus, the
scale may be considered to consist of one meaningful
factor and is reliable (a =.94).
Scale descriptives
Table I presents descriptive statistics for each scale,
setting out the scale means and standard deviations,
the number of items in each scale, and what
percentage of respondents scored high on each scale.
Respondents were deemed to have scored high if
their scores fell above the positive side of the neutral
point (i.e., a scale score above the average item score
of 4) on these dimensions. The table also includes
the scale a coefcients, which were all satisfactory.
Finally, it includes descriptives of the three false
belief questions.
Sample description
Pertinent sociodemographic characteristics of the
sample are as follows. The majority of respondents
were quite well educated (66% had attended or were
attending a tertiary institution). The political view-
point of the sample was moderate (46% at centre
or did not have a political preference). A large
percentage of respondents were of an older age
(M=46 years), and there were marginally more
female (56%) than male respondents.
Prediction of negative attitudes toward asylum see-
kers. Correlations among the predictor variables
are presented in Table II. Of most importance is the
positive correlation between the ATAS scale and the
false belief scale (r =.78). There was also a positive
correlation between the ATAS scale and self-esteem
(r =.27); in other words, participants with the most
negative attitudes toward asylum seekers had high
self-esteem. Those who scored high on the ATAS
scale also scored high on national identity, were
older, and were more right-wing in their political
orientation.
Due to the high relationship between the ATAS
and the false beliefs scale, we decided to use false
beliefs as another outcome rather than an indepen-
dent variable. Although reliability was less than the
ATAS (a =.73), it was still adequate (no items
Table I. Descriptive characteristics of scales
Scale Mean SD k % a
ATAS
a
4.66 1.51 18 71.4 .94
False Beliefs scale
b
2.35 .62 3 65.6 .73
National identity
a
6.54 .71 7 98.1 .85
Self-esteem
a
6.23 .73 10 98.7 .76
False beliefs
1. Queue jumpers
b
2.46 .79 64.3
2. Cashed up
b
2.36 .76 52.9
3. Govt handouts
b
2.24 .74 41.7%
Notes. ATAS=Attitudes Toward Asylum Seekers scale.
a
% respondents who scored above the scale midpoint;
b
% respondents with false beliefs (excluding dont know).
154 A. Pedersen et al.
produced CITC under .60). Thus, two hierarchical
multiple regression equations were constructed to
examine the combined and the unique inuences of
the predictors on the ATAS scale and the false beliefs
scale. In this regard, we were interested to know
whether similar psychological processes took place.
In both equations, the set of sociodemographic
predictors was entered on Step 1, and a set of social
psychological variables on Step 2 (Table III).
Constructing the equations in this way allows us to
see whether the b weights obtained at the end of Step
1 are modied by the inclusion of social psycholo-
gical variables.
More variance in the ATAS scale (29%, adjusted
R
2
=26%) was explained by the predictors compared
with the False Beliefs scale (22%, adjusted
R
2
=19%). In the equation predicting ATAS, being
male, higher levels of education, right-wing political
position, and high levels of national identity had
signicant b weights after all variables were included.
A slightly different pattern was found in the equation
predicting false beliefs. Here, higher levels of
education, right-wing political position, high levels
of national identity, and increased age had signicant
b weights after all variables were included. Thus,
although a comparison between the two equations
reveals more similarities than differences in their
patterns of predictability, they do not appear to be
qualitatively identical constructs; sex and age had
different predictive value. For the purposes of this
paper, we will concentrate on negative attitudes
toward asylum seekers.
Discussion
Aside from the successful construction of the ATAS
scale, the results stemming from the use of this scale
lead to two important conclusions. The rst conclu-
sion is that peoples attitudes were related to false
beliefs about asylum seekers; the relationship was
Table II. Correlation matrix
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. ATAS 1 .78** .27** .27** .27** .13 .31** .37**
2. False beliefs 1 .14 .28** .27** .12 .26** .28**
3. Self esteem 1 .26** .09 .01 .05 .18*
4. National identity 1 .12 .05 .10 .10
5. Age 1 .14 .37** .10
6. Sex 1 .03 .03
7. Education 1 .10
8. Political orientation 1
*p 5.05; **p 5.01 (all two-tailed).
Table III. Hierarchical regressions predicting Attitudes Toward Asylum Seekers and False Belief scales
Variables entered r b
a
b
b
R
2
change Total R
2
Attitudes toward asylum seekers
Step 1
Sex .13 .15* .16*
Education .31** .24** .23**
Political position .37** .29*** .26**
Age .27** .13 .10 .24***
Step 2
National Identity .27** .18*
Self esteem .27** .09 .05*** .29***
False Beliefs
Step 1
Sex .12 .12 .14
Education .26** .19* .18*
Political position .28** .21** .20**
Age .27** .18* .17* .18***
Step 2
National Identity .28** .23**
Self esteem .14 .05 .04*** .22***
Notes.
a
b weights for variables after rst step;
b
b weights for variables after second step.
*p 5.05; **p 5.01; ***p 5.001 (all two-tailed).
Attitudes towards asylum seekers 155
stronger than previous research about Indigenous
Australians. Second, in support of SIT, group-based
national identity was more strongly related to
negative attitudes than personal-based identity
(self-esteem). These ndings have important impli-
cations, and will now be discussed in depth.
ATAS scale
A major focus of this study was the construction of a
quantitative scale measuring attitudes toward asylum
seekers. The old-fashioned/modern distinction that
has been found in previous literature regarding
cultural groups such as African Americans and
Indigenous Australians was not found (e.g., McCo-
nahay, 1982; Pedersen & Walker, 1997; Pettigrew &
Meertens, 1995). By constructing the scale the way
we did, we did not want to impose a structure on
participants, but wanted to see whether the old-
fashioned/modern distinction emerged from a pool
of items gathered from the community. It did not.
We acknowledge that people may not always
spontaneously offer interviewers their most central
attitudes; open questions are not always as open as
they seem (Schuman & Presser, 1981, p. 108).
However, it is interesting that people did not
spontaneously make the modern and old-fashioned
distinction found in other studies.
The factor structure also supports the ndings of
Pedersen et al. (2004), who found one meaningful
factor when constructing an Attitudes Toward
Indigenous Australians scale. Why is there a differ-
ence with these two Australian-constructed scales
compared with scales that originated from the
United States? One explanation is likely to be the
theoretical background of the researchers. For
example, from a top-down theoretical position,
questions are asked specically about modern and
old-fashioned prejudice, and answers are often in
line with this distinction. Alternatively, when infor-
mation comes from a grass-roots level (i.e., bottom-
up), the information is more people-focused. In
other words, the questions revolve around what
issues matter most to them. Additionally, with
respect to the present study, the situation of asylum
seekers (and, as a result, attitudes toward them) is
very different to other cultural groups such as
Indigenous Australians and African Americans on
whom much research nding the old-fashioned/
modern distinction has been based. For example,
the role of individualistic values may not be so
relevant in their situation.
Regarding specic attitudes, some respondents
were sympathetic to the situation of asylum seekers.
As one respondent put it, Our treatment of refugees
is nothing short of shameful. . .. However, this was
not the usual response. Many respondents (71%)
scored above the midpoint on the ATAS scale. Many
comments went along these lines: I migrated here
from England in 1966 and we had to go through
numerous medical examinations and had to apply to
come to Australia . . . people should not be allowed in
without following the right procedures and through
the right channels. Similarly, another participant
noted: The asylum seekers need to be sent home.
The navy should use the boat people as target
practice. Interestingly, a number of respondents
indicated that they knew very little about the real
situation; for example: To be honest the only
information that I have about asylum seekers
situation has been picked up from media representa-
tions. Our results support those of Klocker (2004)
who found a great deal of negativity toward asylum
seekers in Port Augusta, South Australia.
Given that many of our respondents were highly
educated, the fact that almost three quarters of
respondents scored above the midpoint on the ATAS
is probably an underestimate of the general commu-
nitys views on asylum seekers. As noted previously,
a recent Perth study found a pecking order, with
asylum seekers receiving the most community hosti-
lity, followed by Indigenous Australians (Pedersen,
2004). Comparatively speaking, therefore, this in-
dicates the severity of the problem at hand (while not
underemphasising the extent of the problem of
prejudice against Indigenous Australians). Asylum
seekers may be seen as a clear outgroup in Australia;
but our respondents may have seen Indigenous
Australians as their local coloured group, which
may explain the higher levels of hostility compara-
tively (see Walker, 2001, for a discussion on this
paternalistic point regarding Indigenous and Chinese
Australians). Regardless of why, our results indicate
that Australia is not the accepting multicultural
society we often pride ourselves on.
Prediction of negative attitudes toward asylum seekers
Negative attitudes toward asylum seekers were very
strongly correlated with false beliefs held by this
group. As noted, this relationship was stronger than
the relationship between prejudice and false beliefs
about Indigenous Australians discussed earlier. Why
might this be the case? One likely reason is that very
few people in Perth would actually know an asylum
seeker. Thus, they may form their opinions more
readily on false beliefs and what they heard from
other sources rather than direct knowledge. This has
serious implications given how negative the attitudes
were. Additionally, many respondents held one or
more false beliefs; this was particularly the case with
the question regarding asylum seekers being queue
jumpers (approximately two thirds of participants
were incorrect in this regard). This false belief may
156 A. Pedersen et al.
evoke negative and passionate reactions to it; as
pointed out by Mares (2001) this is because it
offends Australians sense of fair play. However, as
discussed earlier, this simplistic argument overlooks
many issues such as the lack of queues, and so forth.
The prevalence of false beliefs about asylum
seekers has troubling implications in Australian
society. As J. J. Jones (1997) notes, legitimising
myths has practical consequences in that they create,
maintain, and/or enhance social inequality. Similarly,
they play a key role in either the justication or
opposition of social policies (Sidanius et al., 2001).
However, on a more positive note and as discussed in
the introduction, Batterham (2001) found that giving
accurate information about false beliefs about
Indigenous Australians reduced prejudice scores. If
attitudes toward asylum seekers are to be modied, it
would seem imperative that relevant false beliefs be
shown for what they are.
We turn now to the results of the multiple
regression predicting attitudes toward asylum see-
kers. Here we found that being male, having higher
levels of education, a right-wing political position,
and high levels of national identity predicted negative
attitudes toward asylum seekers. Regarding the
gender effect, this supports past research nding a
similar signicant relationship (e.g., Pedersen &
Walker, 1997). The fact that education was so
strongly linked with attitudes toward asylum seekers
supports the prejudice literature regarding other
cultural groups as discussed in the introduction.
But what of the implications of the ndings of the
present study? Although it could be argued that
educating people to reduce prejudice levels is nothing
short of propaganda for a particular viewpoint, it
could also be argued that a prejudice-free society is
one to be strived for. If one follows this latter train of
thought (as the authors do), our results indicate that
the role of education is important in this regard.
Political position was also linked to negative
attitudes; people who were more right wing were
also more likely to feel negatively about asylum
seekers and their situation. This links with past
research such as that of Fraser & Islam (2000) who
found that symbolic racism was strongly linked with
voting for Pauline Hanson (a far-right political gure
in Australia). In fact, many respondents did view this
situation from a political viewpoint. For example,
Shut the detention centres down, they are inhu-
mane. Sack Howard and Ruddock for consistent
breaches of human right conventions. An alter-
native view was: They should be returned
immediately with no handouts. Australians do not
want these fanatics here to ruin our way of life
government should listen to voters and take a
stronger stand. This political nding may be due
to the left and right essentially reecting the different
attitudes toward equality. Traditionally, right-wing
political parties focus on beneting specic groups or
classes (usually middle to upper class). Left-wing
political parties aim to benet all Australians, not just
the upper classes (Heywood, 1998).
Importantly, with respect to the regression ana-
lyses, national identity signicantly predicted ATAS;
but self-esteem did not. This is not surprising; as
noted by Hunter et al. (1997), global self-esteem
measures such as the Rosenberg (1965) scale used in
our study measure the self at the wrong level of
abstraction (p. 407). Yet there was a signicant
bivariate correlation between self-esteem and ATAS
(in other words, people with relatively high levels of
self-esteem were more negative about asylum see-
kers). Thus, there was a relationship albeit small
between participants perception of self and their
perception of an outgroup. Although our ndings do
not support some research nding a negative
correlation (e.g., Bagley, 1979), it does support the
ndings of Utsey et al. (2002) who found a weak
correlation in the same direction as the current
study. As they suggested, it is pointless (and may
actually have detrimental effects) to attempt to
increase peoples self-esteem in the hope that they
will become more accepting of outgroups. Further,
as Lemyre and Smith (1985, p. 668) note, intergroup
discrimination may restore and maintain self-esteem
rather than enhance it . Our ndings suggest that
given the very high numbers of people in our
community who reported high self-esteem (i.e.,
scoring above the scale midpoint), it may be a
difcult task regardless of any negative repercus-
sions. Having said this, it needs noting that once we
entered the self-esteem variable into the multiple
regression equations, the self-esteem effect was lost.
These ndings are interesting; not only because of
the positive pattern of results, but because it adds to
previous research that notes only a small relationship
between self-esteem and prejudice.
The nding that nationalism signicantly pre-
dicted ATAS scores while self-esteem did not can be
seen in terms of SIT; it may be that when ones
attention is rmly on a group issue such as asylum
seekers, group identity is more salient than personal
identity. Also, in line with Tajfel and Turner (1979),
group identity would be more salient given the
intensity of intergroup conict, people will behave as
a function of their group identity rather than their
personal identity. In this regard, it may be that in
striving to maintain or enhance group identity (nation-
alism), individuals may resort to hostile attitudes in
order to achieve this need. The positive relationship
between the ATAS scale and nationalism supports
other ndings such as that of Mummendy et al.
(2001), Pedersen and Walker (1997) and Verkuyten
(1998). LeCouteur and Augoustinos (2001) note the
Attitudes towards asylum seekers 157
problems associated with nationalism: in their study
they found that nationalistic discourses regarding the
superordinate identity of Australian served to
undermine subcultural groups such as Indigenous
Australians.
The power of nationalism when predicting nega-
tive attitudes toward asylum seekers is not surprising.
Cullingford (2000) denes nationalism as a cultural
and political phenomenon, which can also be dened
in terms of a common cultural interest. He also
suggests that nationalism can encourage extreme
aggression in the sense that one group is an enemy.
Further, in a time of crisis or during social or political
change, nationalism can surface as a powerful force.
As noted by Billig (1995), there is no us without a
them (p. 78). After September 11 an increase in
patriotism was seen wherein a sense of nationalism
and unity was very evident in both the United States
and Australia. The importance of nationalism is
encouraged by the powers that be in Australian
Government. As noted by Hage (2003), Prime
Minister John Howard uses the notion of a unique
Australian way (or national identity) more than any
politician has done in the past decade. In doing so,
he positions Australian values at the cornerstone of
Australias political vision (for example, he often
stresses Australias successful political climate of
tolerance, and its welcoming nature for real
refugees).
Limitations of our study, and scope for future research
We are by no means presenting the results of our
study as conclusive. There are of course limitations
such as a restricted sample size, and the fact that only
Perth residents were surveyed. It would be interest-
ing to look at attitudes toward asylum seekers in
different locations, and what predicted positive
attitudes (e.g., was there a particular ah-ha
experience that changed attitudes?) Given the high
degree of negativity reported about asylum seekers in
this paper, we may learn more from people with
more positive attitudes; in other words, why are
people not prejudiced?
In addition, given the prevalence of the false beliefs
identied by researchers, it would be interesting to
examine false beliefs as a discursive-psychological,
rather than a cognitive psychological, phenomenon
(see the Potter, 1996 work on fact construction). As
discussed previously, in the recent past in Australia,
politicians have promoted a view as true, and often
they were accepted by the general public as true
before being accepted as false. In other words,
political truths have become mistruths. How do
people deal with the introduction of new author-
itative and factual information that contradicts
information previously held to be obviously true?
Regardless of the projects limitations, we believe
that this piece of research is a start. It presents ideas,
and then offers up the results for other researchers to
challenge, build on, and develop. And given the
situation of asylum seekers at present and attitudes
toward them, much work is necessary.
Conclusion
There were three major ndings that emanate from
the present study. The rst was that a large
proportion of the Perth community expressed
negative attitudes toward asylum seekers, which
strongly relate to false beliefs. The second major
nding concerned the predictors of such negative
attitudes. In particular, gender, a lack of education
and right-wing political views were signicant pre-
dictors of negative attitudes, which supports much of
the past prejudice literature. Additionally, although
there was a positive relationship between self-esteem
and negative attitudes, this relationship did not
persist when entered into a multiple regression. In
line with social identity theory, nationalism was a
signicant predictor of negative attitudes.
Clearly, negative attitudes involve societal issues,
not simply psychological. It would appear that a lot
of work in the wider society on preventing mis-
conceptions about asylum seekers is necessary before
Australia can call itself a just and accepting multi-
cultural society.
Acknowedgements
The authors thank a number of people for their input
into the paper, in particular Jaimie Beven, Ngaire
Donaghue, Brian Grifths, and Colin Leach for their
very useful comments on an earlier draft (although
the authors take full responsibility for the views
stated herein). Additionally, we would like to thank
Merrion Grey for her help in the early days of the
project.
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Appendix A
Attitudes Towards Asylum Seekers scale
1. Asylum seekers are holding Australia to ransom
by resorting to violence such as rioting.
2. If asylum seekers need refuge, they should be
granted refuge
3. Asylum seekers are being dealt with appro-
priately by the government
4. Separating asylum seekers like they are alien
species dehumanises us all
5. Asylum seekers are ungrateful by protesting in
the manner that they do
6. I sympathise with the situation of asylum
seekers
7. Asylum seekers are justied in hunger striking
to attract attention to their situation
8. The governments policy on asylum seekers is
justied
9. Asylum seekers are being unfairly detained
10. Asylum seekers are manipulative in the way
that they engage in self-harm protesting such as
self-mutilation
11. Asylum seekers dont attempt to be part of
Australian society
12. Asylum seekers are innocent victims of bad
government policy
13. Asylum seekers are legitimate refugees and
should be welcomed
14. So-called asylum seekers are people eeing the
chaos of war and the cruelties of monstrous
regimes
15. Asylum seekers who mutilate themselves would
not make model citizens
16. Asylum seekers breed hatred
17. If asylum seekers are not happy, send them
home
18. Asylum seekers would be better off in
self-sufcient communities rather than in
detention
160 A. Pedersen et al.