Using Moral Foundations to Assess Stereotypes: Americans' Perceptions of Immigrants and Refugees

This study considers the role of moral foundations in the formation and perpetuation of Americans' stereotypes of immigrants and refugees. The results of two content analyses and an inductive thematic analysis of open-ended data show that American respondents hold different stereotypes of immigrants and refugees. Refugees were described using language relates to the care/harm moral foundation, while immigrants were described in terms of loyalty/betrayal. These findings illustrate that stereotypes are communicated through moral language-a process that encourages schema formation based on morally driven, group-based perceptions of immigrants and refugees.