Abstract:
The purpose of the present study was first to determine what influences international
students' perceptions of prejudice, and secondly to examine how perceptions of
prejudice would affect international students' group identification. Variables such as
stigma vulnerability and contact which have been previously linked with perceptions of
prejudice and intergroup relations were re-examined (Berryman-Fink, 2006; Gilbert,
1998; Nesdale & Todd, 2000), while variables classically linked to prejudicial attitudes
such as right-wing authoritarianism and openness to experience were explored in relation
to perceptions of prejudice. Furthermore, the study examined how perceptions of
prejudice might affect the students' identification choices, by testing two opposing
models. The first model was based on the motivational nature of social identity theory
(Tajfel & Turner, 1986) while the second model was based on the cognitive nature of
self-categorization theory/ rejection-identification model (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher,
& Wetherell, 1987; Schmitt, Spears, & Branscombe,2003).
It was hypothesized that stigma vulnerability, right-wing authoritarianism, openness to
experience and contact would predict both personal and group perceptions of prejudice. It
was also hypothesized that perceptions of prejudice would predict group identification. If
the self-categorizationlrejection-identification model was supported, international
students would identify with the international students. If the social mobility strategy
was supported, international students would identify with the university students group.
Participants were 98 international students who filled out questionnaires on the Brock
University Psychology Department Website. The first hypothesis was supported. The
combination of stigma vulnerability, right-wing authoritarianism, openness to experience
and contact predicted both personal and group prejudice perceptions of international
students. Furthermore, the analyses supported the self-categorizationlrejectionidentification
model. International identification was predicted by the combination of
personal and group prejudice perceptions of international students.
