Empathy towards immigrants often seems in short supply in a world in which politicians are only too happy to whip up anti-foreigner sentiments to hide their own failings. Research from the University of Arkansas suggests that such sentiments can be overcome with the use of games and role-playing, with participants generally more trusting of immigrants and tolerant of different cultures after partaking.
The researchers used a role-playing game called Citizenship Quest, with participants playing the role of immigrants from either China, Mexico, or India. After playing the game, the participants said they were much more likely to trust immigrants than those who had not played.
“Results suggest that role-playing as diverse others promotes trust in differences through the development of shared experiences,” the researchers explain. “This trust can radiate to other seemingly related groups and to immigrants in general. Playing games like this could establish faith in new people, as a means of encouraging diverse social contact for the future.”
Greater empathy
The game requires players to participate in stages. The first of these requires them to customize their character, giving it gender and a name according to the country of origin of the character. They then work to develop the background for the character, which involved them writing about the politics of their homeland and why they wanted to immigrate to the United States. They also completed the Application for Naturalization form.
The participants then role-played the act of voting for the first time. They were also asked to write about why they wanted to become a U.S. citizen and how it made them proud, while also highlighting what they thought were the most important political issues facing their community.
A test was then completed after the game was played, with the results showing that participants had much higher levels of trust in immigrants than their peers who had not played the game. While they particularly gained newfound trust in immigrants from countries included in the game, they also had increased trust in those that weren’t.
“Feeling immersed in the experience of characters related to positive attitudes toward outgroups,” the researchers explain. “Users perceived their characters as entities with which they had a meaningful relationship, but was not their own personal identity. In other words, a second self.”
This is a vital aspect of the findings, as the diversity of social contact across the United States has been in decline over the last 50 years, despite the fact that the country has become far more diverse. What’s more, many citizens appear threatened by the differences a diverse population brings, which can result in a breakdown in trust. This can be especially problematic during crises, such as the Covid pandemic but also the current financial difficulties.
