The role of positive and negative intergroup contact, social dominance orientation and intergroup threat and anxiety on the feelings and the perceived social distance towards Syrian refugees

The purpose of this research is to examine attitudes of Turkish citizens towards Syrian refugees and factors that could explain those attitudes. For this purpose, a research model has been formed, which brings together some concepts from several social psychological theories about intergroup relationship. The research model included the concepts of intergroup contact and outgroup friendship from Contact Theory, the concept of social dominance orientation n from Social Dominance Theory and the concepts of intergroup anxiety and threat from Integrated Threat Theory. The data was collected from 303 Turkish citizens residing in districts that are intensely populated by Syrian refugees in Bursa conducting a survey either face-to-face or via internet. In the conceptual model, it has been predicted that social dominance orientation and positive and negative intergroup contact would predict social distance and positive/negative feelings towards the outer group through the mediation of intergroup anxiety and perception of intergroup threat. The model has been tested through structural equation analysis. The model fit the data well and most of the expected direct and indirect effects have been verified. According to the results, positive contact with Syrian refugees increases positive emotions towards them, and while negative contact increases negative emotions. The perception of threat and the feeling of anxiety experienced by Turkish citizens due to Syrian refugees mediated the aforementioned relationship. In addition to this model, an alternative model that only intergroup anxiety has a mediating role among variables has been tested. The findings have been discussed inthe light of the other studies in the literature.