TY - JOUR

T1 - Psychological foundations of xenophilia

T2 - The role of major personality traits in predicting favorable attitudes toward cross-cultural contact and exploration

AU - Stürmer, Stefan

AU - Benbow, Alison E.F.

AU - Siem, Birte

AU - Barth, Markus

AU - Bodansky, Alexander N.

AU - Lotz-Schmitt, Katharina

PY - 2013/11

Y1 - 2013/11

N2 - Building on an integration of research findings on intergroup behavior from multiple fields of scientific inquiry (biological and cultural paleoanthropology, social psychology), as well as research on the HEXACO personality framework (e.g., Ashton & Lee, 2007), 3 independent studies (total N = 1,007) were conducted to introduce and test a fresh personality perspective on human xenophilia. Even though the studies focused on different criteria (Study 1: favorable attitudes toward contact with immigrants, Study 2: habitual cross-cultural exploration, Study 3: favorable attitudes toward contact with indigenous people) and employed different operationalizations of major personality traits (the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised [HEXACO-PI-R], the 10-item Big Five Inventory [BFI-10]) results were remarkably similar. First, path analyses confirmed that major personality traits were significant and direct predictors of xenophilia that were independent of the contributions of individual differences commonly predicting xenophobic reactions across studies. Second, and in line with the authors' more specific hypotheses, hierarchical regression analyses also corroborated that individual differences in the levels of endeavorrelated personality traits (i.e., eXtraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness) had a substantially greater power in predicting individual differences in xenophilia than individual differences in levels of altruism/cooperation-related traits (i.e., Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, and Agreeableness). The implications of these findings for more general psychological theorizing on human sociality are discussed.

AB - Building on an integration of research findings on intergroup behavior from multiple fields of scientific inquiry (biological and cultural paleoanthropology, social psychology), as well as research on the HEXACO personality framework (e.g., Ashton & Lee, 2007), 3 independent studies (total N = 1,007) were conducted to introduce and test a fresh personality perspective on human xenophilia. Even though the studies focused on different criteria (Study 1: favorable attitudes toward contact with immigrants, Study 2: habitual cross-cultural exploration, Study 3: favorable attitudes toward contact with indigenous people) and employed different operationalizations of major personality traits (the HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised [HEXACO-PI-R], the 10-item Big Five Inventory [BFI-10]) results were remarkably similar. First, path analyses confirmed that major personality traits were significant and direct predictors of xenophilia that were independent of the contributions of individual differences commonly predicting xenophobic reactions across studies. Second, and in line with the authors' more specific hypotheses, hierarchical regression analyses also corroborated that individual differences in the levels of endeavorrelated personality traits (i.e., eXtraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness) had a substantially greater power in predicting individual differences in xenophilia than individual differences in levels of altruism/cooperation-related traits (i.e., Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, and Agreeableness). The implications of these findings for more general psychological theorizing on human sociality are discussed.

KW - Cross-group contact

KW - Personality structure

KW - Positive intergroup behavior

KW - Xenophilia

KW - Social Work and Social Pedagogics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84887555773&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/a0033488

DO - 10.1037/a0033488

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 23834640

AN - SCOPUS:84887555773

VL - 105

SP - 832

EP - 851

JO - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

SN - 0022-3514

IS - 5

ER -