Prejudice toward Muslims in New Zealand: Insights from the New Zealand attitudes and values study

Type of content
Journal Article
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2020
Authors
Sibley CG
Satherley N
Ejova A
Stronge S
Grimshaw M
Hawi D
Mirnajafi Z
Barlow FK
Milojev P
Greaves LM
Abstract

Following the March 15th Christchurch terrorist attack, members of our research team have been repeatedly asked to comment or provide summary statistics from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) on prejudice toward Muslims. As the curators of the NZAVS, we think that these findings should be in the public domain and accessible to as wide an audience as possible. In this article, we aim to provide a comprehensive summary of what we know from the NZAVS about attitudes toward Muslims and prejudice in New Zealand more generally. From 2012 onwards, the NZAVS included a feeling thermometer rating of people’s level of warmth toward Muslims. Here, we summarize what we know from the NZAVS about levels of warmth toward Muslims in the New Zealand population. We describe the distribution of thermometer ratings of warmth toward Muslims annually from 2012 onward, and compare these with thermometer ratings of a range of other groups that we also track. We present a regression model documenting the extent to which a broad range of demographics and aspects of personality are associated with low levels of warmth toward Muslims, and present a parallel model assessing warmth ratings toward immigrants as a comparison. Finally, we present a series of growth curve models outlining the relative level and rate of change over time in warmth toward Muslims and other groups from 2012-2018. Results from these analyses indicate that over the 2012-2018 period, levels of warmth toward Muslims in New Zealand were comparatively low relative to warmth ratings of other groups. However, warmth toward Muslims has also been steadily but gradually increasing over time in New Zealand.

Description
Citation
Sibley CG, Usman Afzali M, Satherley N, Ejova A, Stronge S, Yogeeswaran K, Grimshaw M, Hawi D, Mirnajafi Z, Barlow FK, Milojev P, Greaves LM, Kapeli S, Zubielevitch E, Hamley L, Basabas MC, Wu MH, Howard C, Lee CHJ, Huang Y, Lockhart C, Bahamondes J, Manuela S, Milfont TL, Perry R, Sengupta NK, Overall NC, Shaver JH, Troughton G, Osborne D, Bulbulia J (2020). Prejudice toward Muslims in New Zealand: Insights from the New Zealand attitudes and values study. New Zealand Journal of Psychology. 49(1). 48-72.
Keywords
Prejudice, Muslim, Christchurch Terrorist Attack, Feeling Thermometer
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
1701 Psychology
1702 Cognitive Sciences
Fields of Research::44 - Human society::4402 - Criminology::440217 - Terrorism
Fields of Research::52 - Psychology::5205 - Social and personality psychology::520505 - Social psychology
Fields of Research::52 - Psychology::5205 - Social and personality psychology::520501 - Community psychology
Rights
All rights reserved unless otherwise stated