Guillem Fernández Villà

Presentation Title

Speaking of Integration: The Influence of Linguistic and Racial Cues on Perceptions of Immigrants

Abstract

In this series of studies, we explored the intersection between race, accent, and linguistic proficiency in Americans' perceptions of immigrants. In our first two studies, we established that participants made assumptions of a racial minority immigrant's likely English proficiency even before hearing them speak, perceiving lower proficieny when they saw the immigrant interacting with a racial minority, as opposed to a racial majority group member. Furthermore, these assumptions of linguistic proficiency flowed through to lower perceptions of the immigrant's friendliness and a lower reported willingness to socially engage. In our third study, we found that direct linguistic information did mitigate the effect of race-based linguistic proficiency assumptions, but the relationship between English proficiency, perceived friendliness, and willingness to engage remained. In our fourth and final study, we demonstrated that the strength of an immigrant's accent, which acted as a proxy for English proficiency, did affect participants perceptions of the immigrant's friendliness and competence, as well as participants' willingness to engage. Place of origin of the immigrant was unrelated to these outcomes, but participants were more likely to behaviorally engage with immigrants that we reported as from Europe rather than Asia. Overall, our results illuminate the centrality of linguistic biases in hindering the successful acculturation of immigrants.