How do adolescents perceive Chinese and Romanian immigrants? Testing the extended stereotype content model (¿Cómo perciben los adolescentes a los inmigrantes de origen chino y rumano? Una prueba del modelo extendido del contenido de los estereotipos (MCE) )

Abstract

This study assessed Spanish adolescents’ (N = 296) stereotypes of morality, sociability and competence and their emotions towards Romanian (n = 147) or Chinese immigrants (n = 149). We also assessed the perceived intergroup competition with these groups and their perceived social status, and we explored the relation of these variables with adolescents’ stereotypes and emotions. As expected, adolescents’ evaluations were influenced by the ethnic origin of the immigrants and their stereotypes regarding each group were ambivalent. Intergroup competition was negatively related to immigrants’ perceived morality and sociability. Outgroup status was positively related to immigrants’ perceived competence. For both groups, stereotypes mediated the effect of socio-structural variables on adolescents’ emotions, but only morality was a consistent mediator in the examined processes. These findings provide information regarding the underlying mechanism of adolescents’ social perception of immigrant outgroups and emphasize the primary role of morality in this process.