Why Reminding People of Ancestral Displacement Often Fails to Increase Refugee Sympathy

Prior studies find that subtle messaging—by prompting perspective taking—can reduce prejudice. For example, reminding citizens about their family’s displacement has been shown to induce empathy toward refugees.

🧭 What Was Tested

A test of whether drawing explicit parallels between past family displacement and present-day refugees increases sympathy for refugees among descendants of displaced groups.

🧪 How the research was conducted

• Five new studies implemented in Cyprus, Turkey, and Greece.
• Treatments consisted of messages that compared participants’ family or ingroup displacement experiences to the plight of current refugees.
• Outcomes measured included affective responses toward refugees and support for refugee-related policies.

🔍 Key Findings

• No evidence that descendants of displaced Turks, Greeks, or Greek Cypriots became more sympathetic toward refugees when prompted to compare present refugees to their family’s displacement.
• In some cases, drawing ingroup–outgroup parallels produced increased hostility rather than empathy.
• These messaging interventions did not move policy attitudes.
• Effects were context-specific, calling into question the generalizability and scalability of this light-touch approach to reducing anti-refugee bias.

⚠️ Why it matters

Light-touch reminders of shared displacement do not reliably generate solidarity and can backfire depending on context. Practical limitations of these subtle interventions suggest a need for further research on scalable, robust strategies for prejudice reduction and policy change.