The overestimation of minority group size
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Mentor Information
Mark Pezzo
Description
Politicians and citizens often claim that a problem is "growing" or even "out of control" without providing metrics to support their claim. We wondered if people who fear immigration might be prone to overestimate the percentage of people who they perceive as "foreign" and further, whether that overestimation is moderated by the degree of fear or contempt held towards that group. In Study 1, participants viewed fictitious graduate school applications and then estimated the percentage of applicants that were from the Middle East. In study 2, participants viewed fictitious head shots and estimated the percentage of individuals who were wearing head scarves. In both studies, participants completed individual difference measures assessing xenophobic and anti-Muslim attitudes. Results indicate that the size of the salient group was overestimated, while the size of the majority group was underestimated.
The overestimation of minority group size
Politicians and citizens often claim that a problem is "growing" or even "out of control" without providing metrics to support their claim. We wondered if people who fear immigration might be prone to overestimate the percentage of people who they perceive as "foreign" and further, whether that overestimation is moderated by the degree of fear or contempt held towards that group. In Study 1, participants viewed fictitious graduate school applications and then estimated the percentage of applicants that were from the Middle East. In study 2, participants viewed fictitious head shots and estimated the percentage of individuals who were wearing head scarves. In both studies, participants completed individual difference measures assessing xenophobic and anti-Muslim attitudes. Results indicate that the size of the salient group was overestimated, while the size of the majority group was underestimated.
