Migration is an important phenomenon that affects both the dynamics of intergroup relations at the global and local levels, and international policies. In recent years, Turkey has been among the countries where immigrants have been arriving intensively. However, attitudes towards refugees have rarely been studied with Turkish samples. This study aims to examine the relationship between attitudes towards refugees and the feeling of disgust. Two separate studies were conducted for this purpose. In the first study, the relationship between conservatism and disgust sensitivity with attitudes towards refugees was investigated. The findings showed that conservatism was associated with negative attitudes towards refugees, while disgust sensitivity did not have a significant relationship. In the second study, the role of disgust sensitivity was tested experimentally. Despite the effectiveness of the manipulation, the effect of an increase in disgust was insignificant for attitudes towards refugees. On the other hand, as expected, the results showed that religiosity and conservatism exhibited significant relationships with attitudes towards refugees and that the relationship between conservatism and negative attitudes towards refugees differed according to the levels of religiosity. The findings indicate that conservatism and religiosity should be taken into consideration together in understanding negative attitudes towards refugees in future studies.
Keywords:
migration, prejudice, disgust, conservatism, religiosity