Matilde Tumino, Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna

Theoretical Background

Recent increases in global migration have coincided with heightened political polarization over immigration in Western democracies (Dochow-Sondershaus & Teney, 2024; Hout & Maggio, 2021), often strengthening right-leaning populist movements (Ambrosini, 2025; Goodman, 2022). A key psychological factor in this divide is Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA; Altemeyer, 1983), which reliably predicts negative immigration attitudes, especially when immigrants are perceived as a threat (Simonsen & Bonikowski, 2022).
Simultaneously, digital media often foster echo chambers that amplify polarization on immigration (Ekström et al., 2023; Bail et al., 2018). However, these environments also offer a unique opportunity for low-risk, scalable intergroup contact, which may be especially beneficial for high-RWA individuals who typically avoid such interactions (Bond et al., 2023; White et al., 2020).

Despite this potential, little is known about whether online intergroup exposure reduces or exacerbates prejudice and how effects depend on ideological orientation.

This literature gap was addressed by the present research funded by the EASP Seedcorn grant.

Empirical research and findings

Our study examined RWA and attributions of morality and competence to immigrants in relation to positive and negative online and offline intergroup contact. These traits are particularly relevant in the immigration domain, where immigrants are frequently stereotyped as low in morality and competence (Fussell, 2014; Lee & Fiske, 2006), reflecting dominant public debates centered on lawfulness, cultural conformity, and perceived societal burden. Prior research suggests that positive intergroup contact enhances moral attributions toward outgroups (Brambilla et al., 2013), yet little empirical work has investigated how the valence of online and offline encounters are related with ideological orientations to shape such inferences.

To address this gap, 556 Italian native respondents (402 women, 198 men, 4 non-binary, 1 undisclosed; Mage = 28.10, SD = 9.19) completed an online questionnaire assessing right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), the valence (in terms of positive & negative) of their online and offline intergroup experiences, and their competence and morality attributions toward immigrants.

Consistent with expectations and prior theorizing (Cohrs & Stelzl, 2010), higher levels of RWA were associated with systematically lower competence and morality attributions. Although positive online vicarious contact was associated with more favorable trait attributions overall, it did not significantly moderate the association between RWA and perceptions of immigrant morality or competence. Notably, among individuals high in RWA, exposure to negative online cues attenuated the beneficial effects of positive offline contact, indicating that hostile digital portrayals may overshadow, even counteract, the positive influence of direct intergroup experiences.
Overall, these findings suggest that digital environments can be associated with positive intergroup attitudes, but their direction is linked to ideological predispositions and the valence of experienced intergroup cues, with negative online content posing a particular risk for reinforcing preexisting biases.

Contributions of the research

The present research advances the study of intergroup relations by integrating insights on the valence and context of online and offline intergroup experiences, two dimensions that have been largely examined in isolation.

Although digital environments offer unprecedented opportunities for exposure to outgroups, prior work shows that such exposure is often ambivalent: negative online vicarious contact is more frequent than its offline counterpart (Tynes et al., 2008), and public digital spaces frequently expose users to biased, hostile, or exclusionary interactions (White et al., 2015). Existing evidence suggests that the valence of online exposure is significant, with negative portrayals, particularly in news media, exacerbating prejudice. In contrast, positive portrayals in entertainment media can promote more positive intergroup evaluations (Visintin et al., 2016). Moreover, research on contact valence has consistently shown that negative experiences exert stronger effects than positive ones (Paolini et al., 2024), even though positive contact is more frequent (Graf et al., 2014).

Extending this work, the present research highlights how digital environments can either reinforce or undermine the effects of offline intergroup contact, depending on the nature of the exposure. Yet, despite these advances, no studies have systematically examined how these online–offline dynamics operate among individuals high in prejudice, nor how ideological orientations are associated with the impact of contact valence across contexts. The present research directly addresses this gap by investigating the interplay between online and offline intergroup experiences and the ideological motivations that guide how individuals interpret, internalize, and react to such exposures.

In doing so, the present research contributes a more comprehensive and theoretically grounded understanding of how digital and real-world intergroup interactions jointly shape polarization and attitudes toward immigrants.

Contribution to wider research activities of future research

The Seedcorn grant allowed me to expand my previous study (Study 1), which examined how political orientation was linked to attitudes toward immigration and whether this link was amplified by online exposure, including general internet use and the sharing of political content online.

This grant will support the finalization of a new experimental study (Study 3) designed to examine the causal interplay between ideological orientations and the valence of online and offline intergroup contact. This methodological advancement will allow us to move beyond correlational evidence and directly test how exposure to positive and negative intergroup experiences shapes immigration attitudes across different ideological profiles.

Moreover, the grant helped me to establish a collaborative network within the research team in social psychology at the University of Bologna, working on the national project (PRIN) Developing Inclusive Societies: The Role of Valence and Intensity of Offline and Online Interethnic Contact.

References

Altemeyer, B. (1983). Right-Wing authoritarianism. In University of Manitoba Press eBooks. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780887558894
Ambrosini, M. (2025). The populist far right paradox: the identification of the enemy and its exceptions in the immigration policies of the Meloni government in Italy. Comparative Migration Studies, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-025-00438-y
Bail, C. A., Argyle, L. P., Brown, T. W., Bumpus, J. P., Chen, H., Hunzaker, M. B. F., Lee, J., Mann, M., Merhout, F., & Volfovsky, A. (2018). Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(37), 9216–9221. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804840115
Bond, J., Dixon, J., Tredoux, C., & Andreouli, E. (2023). The contact hypothesis and the virtual revolution: Does face-to-face interaction remain central to improving intergroup relations? PLoS ONE, 18(12), e0292831. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292831
Brambilla, M., Sacchi, S., Pagliaro, S., & Ellemers, N. (2013). Morality and intergroup relations: Threats to safety and group image predict the desire to interact with outgroup and ingroup members. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(5), 811–821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.04.005
Cohrs, J. C., & Stelzl, M. (2010). How Ideological Attitudes Predict Host Society Members’ Attitudes toward Immigrants: Exploring Cross-National Differences. Journal of Social Issues, 66(4), 673–694. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2010.01670.x
Dochow-Sondershaus, S., & Teney, C. (2024). Opinion polarization of immigration and EU attitudes between social classes – the limiting role of working class dissensus. European Societies, 26(5), 1363–1394. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2024.2312948
Ekström, A. G., Madison, G., Olsson, E. J., & Tsapos, M. (2023). The search query filter bubble: effect of user ideology on political leaning of search results through query selection. Information Communication & Society, 27(5), 878–894. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2023.2230242
Fussell, E. (2014). Warmth of the welcome: Attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy in the United States. Annual Review of Sociology, 40(1), 479–498. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043325
Goodman, S. W. (2022). Citizenship in Hard Times: How ordinary people respond to Democratic threat. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/citizenship-in-hard-times/6F6F2EEE3979D61CD2C4B69362012917
Graf, S., Paolini, S., & Rubin, M. (2014). Negative intergroup contact is more influential, but positive intergroup contact is more common: Assessing contact prominence and contact prevalence in five Central European countries. European Journal of Social Psychology, 44(6), 536–547. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2052
Hout, M., & Maggio, C. (2021). Immigration, Race & Political Polarization. Daedalus, 150(2), 40–55. https://doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_01845
Lee, T. L., & Fiske, S. T. (2006). Not an outgroup, not yet an ingroup: Immigrants in the Stereotype Content Model. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 30(6), 751–768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2006.06.005
Paolini, S., Gibbs, M., Sales, B., Anderson, D., & McIntyre, K. (2024). Negativity bias in intergroup contact: Meta-analytical evidence that bad is stronger than good, especially when people have the opportunity and motivation to opt out of contact. Psychological Bulletin, 150(8), 921–964. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000439
Simonsen, K. B., & Bonikowski, B. (2022). Moralizing immigration: political framing, moral conviction, and polarization in the United States and Denmark. Comparative Political Studies, 55(8), 1403–1436. https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140211060284
Tynes, B. M., Giang, M. T., Williams, D. R., & Thompson, G. N. (2008). Online Racial Discrimination and Psychological adjustment among adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43(6), 565–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.08.021
Visintin, E. P., Voci, A., Pagotto, L., & Hewstone, M. (2016). Direct, extended, and mass‐mediated contact with immigrants in Italy: their associations with emotions, prejudice, and humanity perceptions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 47(4), 175–194. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12423
White, F. A., Abu-Rayya, H. M., Bliuc, A., & Faulkner, N. (2015). Emotion expression and intergroup bias reduction between Muslims and Christians: Long-term Internet contact. Computers in Human Behavior, 53, 435–442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.04.074
White, F. A., Borinca, I., Vezzali, L., Reynolds, K. J., Lyshol, J. K. B., Verrelli, S., & Falomir‐Pichastor, J. M. (2020). Beyond direct contact: The theoretical and societal relevance of indirect contact for improving intergroup relations. Journal of Social Issues, 77(1), 132–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12400