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Framing cultural diversity: The role of media messages of inter-group threat in changing inter-group attitudes and challenging integration policies From a majority group perspective, cultural diversity may be represented as threatening in a number of ways, for instance: “they” endanger “our” welfare system; “they” violate ”our” values and norms; “they” make “us” feel unsafe in “our” streets. These threat frames are overtly played out in public debates over immigration and integration in politics and in the media. We examine how prevailing social representations of cultural diversity as a source of threat affect majority group members’ attitudes towards minorities; and how they are deployed to mobilize support for restrictive policies towards minorities. The first paper explores distinct threat frames in Flemish public debates, and how they are used to argue more restrictive (vs. inclusive) policies, by means of a content analysis of cultural products (i.e. political party platforms, opinion pieces, online commentaries). The second paper examines how threatening media messages affect majority group members’ attitudes towards Moroccans by means of combined longitudinal and experimental studies. Extending research on the key role of typicality in inter-group contact to contexts of inter-group threat, the studies document the impact of the typicality of a Moroccan offender in threat messages on the generalization of negative inter-group attitudes. Wider implications for the role of the media in undermining or promoting tolerance in intergroup relations will be discussed. Paper 1: The use of distinct symbolic, welfare, demographic, and safety threat frames as arguments for restrictive integration policies in Flemish politics and media. Kaat Van Acker, Norbert Vanbeselaere & Batja Mesquita K.U. Leuven, Belgium Majority group members may represent the presence of minority groups as threatening in a number of ways. Using a content analysis of Flemish media and politics, this paper studies how symbolic threat, welfare threat, demographic threat and safety threat are construed as distinct frames; and how these frames are used to argue for restrictive vs. inclusive immigration and integration policies. We analyzed three types of public messages: a) eight political party platforms, b) 45 opinion articles pieces from two frequently read newspapers c) along with 307 online commentaries. A coding scheme was developed distinguishing between types of threat, and applied to all texts by two independent coders (inter-coder reliabilities: kappa > .60). Results document distinct ways of problematizing cultural diversity as a source of threat. A ‘symbolic threat’ frame typically problematises Muslim culture as violating democratic rights and liberties and is used to justify assimilationist policies: “they” should adapt to “our” culture. Second, ‘welfare threat’ is commonly invoked, often together with ‘demographic threat’ to represent immigrants as a socio-economic burden: “they” are blamed for not contributing their fair share. This framing is used to argue for more restrictive government policies (i.e. excluding newcomers from social rights). Finally, a distinct ‘safety threat’ frame blames immigrants for unsafety and petty crime in urban areas and is less frequently used to argue for policies. We conclude that distinct threat frames complement each other; and that they constitute powerful representations to problematise cultural diversity and to mobilize support for restrictive policies towards minorities. Paper 2: That’s so typical! Perceived typicality and the impact of media-induced threat on inter-group attitudes Loes Meeussen & Karen Phalet K.U. Leuven, Belgium Cultural diversity may be represented as enriching or as problematic for contemporary societies. Media coverage tends to focus on the problematic side, framing cultural diversity as a source of inter-group conflict or threat. To investigate how media messages of threat affect majority members’ attitudes towards minorities, we conducted one longitudinal and one experimental study. In particular, we examined the impact of the typicality of the threatening minority group member on the generalization of negative attitudes. In inter-group contact research, typicality was found to play a crucial role in enabling the generalization of positive attitudes from an individual to the out-group. The role of typicality has not yet been investigated in the context of intergroup threat. The longitudinal study explored how a highly mediatised threatening event, the Van Gogh murder, affected Dutch students’ attitudes towards Moroccans. Results showed that the perceived typicality of the Moroccan murderer moderated the influence of the threatening event on inter-group attitudes: students who perceived the murderer as less typical became less negative towards Moroccans after the murder. The experimental study manipulated the typicality of a Moroccan offender in newspaper reports of a fictive threatening event (a violent incident in a dancing). As expected, students who perceived the offender as more typical reported more negative attitudes towards Moroccans following the threat message. We found significantly weaker associations of perceived typicality with negative attitudes measured prior to the threat message. Taken together, our findings suggest mutually reinforcing negative inter-group attitudes and typicality perceptions in a threat context.