Empathy Increases Warmth Toward Syrian and Afghans, but not Ukrainians: Experimental Evidence from Türkiye

Abstract

Previous research has documented that economic concerns might limit the positive impact of empathy in reducing prejudicial attitudes toward refugees in Turkiye. Other research has also shown that religious conservatism might buffer negativity toward refugees. However, there has been no prior research testing whether empathizing with economic hardships would increase positivity toward refugees. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of empathy by leading individuals to adopt the perspective of those experiencing the detrimental effects of resource scarcity among Turkish citizens. Specifically, we examined whether inducing empathy related to resource scarcity would increase the level of warmth felt toward Syrian, Afghan, and Ukrainian refugees, while considering the moderating roles of religiosity and conservatism in this relationship. The present study employed a between-subjects design experiment wherein participants were randomly assigned to either the control group (n = 131) or the experimental group (n = 110). The results showed that participants in the experimental group reported higher levels of warmth toward Syrians and Afghans but not toward Ukrainians when compared to the control group. Moreover, there were significant moderator roles for religiosity and conservatism in the link between induced empathy and warmth toward Syrians. Specifically, the present findings demonstrate that higher levels of religiosity and conservatism positively predict the association between empathy induction and higher levels of warmth toward Syrians but not toward Ukrainians and Afghans. Overall, these results suggest that empathizing with the scarcity of resources might be an effective approach to reducing negative attitudes toward Afghan and Syrian refugees, but it may not have the same impact on Ukrainians in the Turkish cultural context. Furthermore, these findings indicate that higher levels of conservatism and religiosity can contribute to a positive impact of empathy toward Syrians.