Attitudes are an expression of a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of a person, place, situation, or event, at some level of intensity. Attitudes are based on our beliefs and values. Our behaviors tend to reflect our attitudes. Under certain circumstances, life experiences can have an influence in changing attitudes.
Attitudes to migration
There are different types of attitudes to migration that can be roughly clustered into the following groups:
1. attitudes towards migration-related policy, such as whether to be favorable to allow more or fewer migrants into one’s country;
2. attitudes towards a specific migrant group originating from a specific country or associated with a certain religion or a certain behaviour;
3. attitudes toward all migrants, regardless their origin and other personal features;
4. attitudes towards perceived effects of migration, such as attitudes regarding the impact of immigration on the Gross Domestic Product per capita of a country, attitudes regarding the effect of immigration on national unemployment or attitudes regarding the effect of immigration on national culture or the quality of life of the locals.
A person can hold different attitudes to migration at once, including divergent ones. For instance, an individual can be against allowing more immigrants, refugees or asylum seekers into the country and at the same time be favourable to the granting of rights to the immigrants already in the country (such as allowing them to access social benefits).
