Attitudes Toward Muslim Americans Post-9/11

By M. Khan, K. Ecklund. 2013

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Attitudes toward Muslim Americans have been largely understudied in the psychological field. It is important to identify negative attitudes that may be present in particular situations for Muslim Americans in order to better understand and adapt to situations in which negative attitudes are expressed. For this study, 208 subjects (170 females and 38 males) from a California State University campus were recruited; the study explored situational attitudes toward Muslim Americans within the context of social desireability and universal orientation. Contrary to expectations, negative attitudes appeared to be specific rather than global. Implications of the study findings for Muslim American mental health and prevention/ intervention programs are discussed. Attitudes Toward Muslim Americans Post9/11 Following September 11, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported a 1,700 percent increase of hate crimes against Muslim Americans between 2000 to 2001 (Anderson, 2002). During the process of adjusting to the aftermath of September 11, Muslim Americans faced an upsurge in negative stereotypes expressed by the larger society (AmericanArab AntiDiscrimination Committee, 2003; Cassel, 2006) and Muslim immigrants, more than any other 2 Mussarat Khan and Kathryn Ecklund immigrant group, were met with negative attitudes (Council of American Islamic Relations, 2003; Saroglou & Galand, 2004). Since then, increased racial and religious animosity has left Arabs, Middle Easterners, Muslims, and those who bear stereotyped physical resemblance to members of these groups, fearful of potential hatred and hostility from persons of other cultures (AbuRas & Suarez, 2009; BaqiAziz, 2001; Kira et al., 2010; Rippy & Newman, 2006). Although Muslim is a religious label and does not pertain to race, the line between racism and religious discrimination is often blurred (Allen & Nielsen, 2002). Muslim Americans are often perceived as a monolithic group (McCarus, 1994; Nyang, 1999), conceptualized as a religious minority thought to act, think, and behave similarly despite wide ethnic differences that exist within the Muslim American community (AbuRas & Suarez, 2009; McCarus, 1994; Pew Research Center, 2010). Despite negative stereotypes of Muslims reported in the media, little psychological research has been conducted to characterize nonMuslim attitudes toward Muslim Americans. One study was published exploring negative attitudes toward Arabs, whereas none has been conducted regarding Muslims (Sergent, Woods, & Sedlacek, 1992). Research focusing on Islamophobia, a dread or hatred of Islam, has been conducted in Europe where a survey in the United Kingdom indicated that discrimination against Muslims has increased in recent years (Sheridan, 2006). As many Muslim Americans are visibly culturally distinct, it would be of value to explore whether attitudes of nonMuslims toward Muslim Americans resemble attitudes expressed by European nonMuslims toward members of these minority groups. In the aftermath of September 11, because of the higher occurrences of discriminating incidents directed toward Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims (Sheridan, 2006), it is important to identify the particular situational contexts in which Muslim Americans are most vulnerable to experiences of expressed negative attitudes toward their self or their cultural group. Such information may help Muslim Americans process and understand negative experiences through the lens of racism and racism innoculation (ComasDiaz & Jacobsen, 2001). The present study explores situational attitudes toward Muslim Americans. We examine negative attitudes that may be present toward Muslim Americans which may have detrimental effects on the Muslim American’s experiences in specific contexts. It has been established that discrimination toward Muslim Americans was present before the attacks on September 11, which may relate to Islam being frequently portrayed by the media as intrinsically intolerant and violent (Giger & Davidhizar, 2002). However, it would be beneficial to study situational attitudes toward Muslim Americans postSeptember 11, 2001, as the attacks by Muslim terrorists seemed to worsen the general public’s attitudes toward mainstream Muslim Americans. Since Muslim Americans are part of American society, Attitudes Toward Muslim Americans Post9/11 3 negative attitudes and discrimination would have detrimental effects not only on the recipients of the negative expression (AbuRas & Suarez, 2009: Rippy & Newman, 2006; Kira et al., 2010), but also on society at large. Greater understanding of nonMuslims’ affective response to Muslims might be useful information to guide efforts to reduce prejudice toward this group. However, the effects of situational factors on attitudes toward Muslim Americans in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 have not been directly examined. In the present study, we explore the type of situationspecific attitudes held by undergraduate nonMuslim students toward Muslim Americans postSeptember 11, 2001. To be able to assess an individual’s affect toward a particular situation, it is important to understand the role of social desirability. Social desirability bias is “the tendency for individuals to portray themselves in a generally favorable fashion” (Rudmin, 1999, p. 229). The tendency for an individual to do this varies and may depend on the context. It becomes important to measure social desirability bias when using various selfreport questionnaires in social, clinical, and personality psychology research (Rudmin, 1999). Typically, social desirability bias has been assumed to be a function of two factorsfirst, the general strength for the need of approval by others, and second, the demands of the particular situation (Phillips & Clancy, 1970). The overreporting of socially desirable behaviors and the underreporting of socially undesirable behaviors becomes problematic when researching sensitive attitudes. Social desirability bias can attenuate, inflate, or moderate the relationships found between variables (Fischer & Fick, 1993). In relation to attitudes toward Muslim Americans, one would assume if a person is high on traits of social desirability he may minimize negative attitudes held toward Muslim Americans. Furthermore, when considering attitudes toward Muslim Americans, it is important to consider if respondents’ worldview is nonprejudicial. Allport, in his theory of universal orientation, argued people have a “slant, a directional set, a posture, to the mind” that begins the process of selective perception (Allport, 1954; as cited in Phillips & Ziller, 1997). Universal orientation describes the process by which one integrates perceptual data into a sense of oneself and others (Phillips & Ziller, 1997). According to this theory, a person, depending on their orientation, attends to an array of potentially colliding stimuli and focuses on information that reinforces her original view of self or other. Hence, as cited in Phillips & Ziller (1997) “orientation is one of the earliest processes in the perceptualcognitive sequence and is an interactive feature of a perceiver’s personality that allows the actor to actively construe a supporting social niche for the self” (pp. 421– 422). Therefore, universal orientation is characterized by a “slant, set, perceptual readiness” or a customary orientation toward finding and attending to similarities between self and others. Using this model, we argue that persons with nonprejudiced orientations toward others are more likely to respond with more positive attitudes toward Muslim Americans due to a genuine tendency to emphasize universal commonalities. 4 Mussarat Khan and Kathryn Ecklund The present study is designed to examine the following hypotheses: (1) Participants responding to various specific situations in which a Muslim American is present will evaluate those situations more negatively than participants evaluating a situation in which the party or parties are not given a specific Muslim American ethnic designation; (2) Respondents who demonstrate high social desirability and nonprejudicial orientation will express more positive attitudes toward Muslim Americans.

Subfields: Sociology and Political Science

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