I am Islam Borinca, an assistant professor at the University of Groningen. I am a researcher in the field of social and political psychology where I examine intergroup relations, including help/prosocial behaviors, intergroup contact, and social norms, emphasizing emotions, empathy, dehumanization, meta-dehumanization, outgroup apologies, prejudice, and discrimination in hostile and non-hostile settings. I also investigate intragroup processes in relation to polarization and/or conspiracy theories. Additionally, I investigate gender norms, gender roles, and gender behaviors. Finally, I examine violence (e.g., sexual violence, political violence/wars) and trauma.
Project Title
Polarization, dealing with increasing diversity and pluralism in society, and resilience to internal and external threats
Systemic or behavioral change(s) addressed
As a first step, the project will seek to understand why people oppose migration and diversity. As a result, using effective social interventions will result in a change in attitudes and behaviours toward outgroup members, such as immigrants and refugees. Consequently, people will be more helpful and welcoming toward them. Additionally, the project aims to explore safe ways in which natives and outgroups can interact and learn more about each other. Finally, the project seeks to develop policy briefs about its outputs that can be useful for policymakers concerning inclusive norms, diversity, and migration.
Theoretical approach
The main goal of this project is to examine the interplay between political ideologies (i.e., authoritarianism and social dominance orientation) and various social interventions (e.g., social norms, intergroup contact, etc.) focused on migration and mobility to reduce internal and external threats and enable social cohesion using cross-group interaction between natives and outgroup members (e.g., immigrants, refugees). This project will contribute uniquely by integrating theories of social identity, social norms, intergroup contact, and intergroup threat. The aim is to investigate ways to reduce polarization in people’s attitudes towards diversity and migration and prevent these issues from causing internal and external threats. Ultimately, this will promote social cohesion and sustainability.
Empirical research strategies
Initially, this project will start with a correlational study on the relationship between political ideologies, internal and external perceived threats, as well as perceived social norms and contact frequency with outgroup members. This project will then move to a longitudinal study to examine these processes over time. In order to gain a deeper understanding of these processes, a qualitative study will be conducted utilizing focus groups, followed by thematic analysis as an analytic approach. Last, using a series of experiments, the project will test the relevance of various social interventions (and test casual relationships) in reducing internal and external threats and promoting behavioral change. The project will also consider the possibility of testing such cross-group interaction in laboratory studies.
Possibilities for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration
The project aims to integrate various sub-disciplines and disciplines that examine the dynamics of studying groups, social influence, and behavioural change. Besides offering novel knowledge to social and political psychology, the project will seek collaboration with other sub-disciplines of psychology (e.g., development psychology when/if including children and young people, organizational psychology when studying group relations (e.g., ethnicity, nationality, gender) in a workplace; environmental psychology when studying ingroup and outgroup processes concerning environmental attitudes and climate change). There are also opportunities to collaborate with other disciplines, such as sociology (when studying norms, values, and expectations concerning groups), political sciences (when studying political ideology, political discourse, and so on), law (when studying policies on migration and mobility), economics (when studying economic inequality and economic threats), and health sciences (when studying wellbeing and residences concerning threat experiences).
Social transition(s) addressed
The project aims to address polarization and the challenges facing diversity and migration concerning outgroup members, such as immigrants and refugees. Specifically, it seeks to examine ways to prevent individuals who support ideologies against diversity (i.e., authoritarianism and social dominance orientation) from experiencing internal threats (i.e., neurotic anxiety and death anxiety) and external threats (e.g., intergroup threats such as economic and realistic threats and intergroup anxiety). Social cohesion and sustainability can only be promoted if people have fewer polarizing attitudes towards these processes and phenomena. The project has two central questions. First, why are people polarized about diversity and migration? Second, what kind of social intervention will help to reduce polarization concerning diversity and migration?