Anti-Immigrant Propaganda by Radical Right Parties and the Intellectual Performance of Adolescents

In recent years radical right political parties have become a substantial electoral force in many countries around the world. Based on the vision of a mono-ethnic state, anti-immigration is these parties' core message. Connecting research on discrimination, social exclusion, and social identity threat, it was assumed that this anti-immigrant propaganda undermines the intellectual performance of immigrant adolescents. In an experiment conducted at Austrian schools, the intelligence test performance of adolescents with an immigration background decreased after they were exposed to radical right election posters whereas ethnic majority adolescents remained unaffected. The results further suggest that individuals with a strong ethnic minority identity are less vulnerable to the detrimental impact of the radical right propaganda.