Can they ever be one of us? Perceived cultural malleability of refugees and policy support in host nations

Public support for accepting refugees into Western countries may depend on their perceived cultural malleability—the possibility of cultural change and adaptation. We hypothesize that members of host nations will perceive child refugees as having greater potential for cultural malleability than adults, which, in turn, will positively predict their support for acceptance of refugees into their country. In Study 1, participants reported greater perceived cultural malleability in response to images of child Syrian refugees (compared to those of adults with explicit markers of ethnic/religious identity, or groups of refugees), which positively predicted policy support. This pattern was replicated using American (Study 2a) and German (Study 2b) samples, and even when adult refugees were depicted without explicit markers of identity in the images. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings for research on essentialism and intergroup helping, and implications for fostering inclusive public opinion regarding immigration.