Lichtgedanken 02

Editorial 55 02 | LICHT GEDANKEN T cker Enrichment or threat Students investigate the climate of opinion about re- fugees Masters students on a course of »Public Communication« start researching during their studies: On the course entitled »Analysis from the perspective of Communication Psycholo- gy«, for example, they are required to independently design, carry out and evaluate a research project of their own. »I’m not right-wing but...« Stephanie Wohlt, Tarek Barkouni, Anika Czichy, Kirsten Richter, Kristin Silge and Anna Welzel examined attitudes towards refugees in their project »I’m not right-wing but ...«. »This statement implies that – contrary to the image that people have of themselves and that others are supposed to have of them – they do indeed sympathize with one or two views. We wanted to take a closer look at this,« says Kirsten Richter. »Our aim on the one hand was to record the cur- rent climate of opinion on refugees. In addition, we wanted to find out whether there was a difference between implicit and explicit attitudes,« Richter explains. Implicit attitudes are deeply embedded in the personality, often sub-consciously. Conscious, expressed attitudes are often described as explicit. »With regard to the 144 participants of whom most were students and between the age of 20 and 35, we are able to confirm a climate of opinion towards refugees that is more positive than negative. Nevertheless, it is revealing that the implicit test in which positive and negative associations in the test subjects both with refugees and with Germans were surveyed, actually turned out to be more negative than the explicit test for which there were specific questions,« Stepha- nie Wohlt reports. »From this it could be concluded that the answers given in the explicit section were more positive be- cause the respondents wanted to portray themselves as more open or in order to obtain greater social approval. However, it is not possible to say whether this occurred consciously or subconsciously,« says Richter in explaining one possibility for the discrepancy. The non-representative study of the group also shows that feelings of threat triggered by refugees are connected to negative attitudes towards them. Anyone who regards refugees as a risk, has a more critical attitude towards them; anyone who tends to see them more as a source of en- richment, has a more positive stance towards them. jd A problem shared is a problem doubled How consumers perceive mistakes in service The train is late, the food is cold or the breakfast buffet in the hotel has already been cleared away when you enter the breakfast room – mistakes can frequently occur in the ser- vice sector. A team working for marketing expert Prof. Dr Gianfranco Walsh has succeeded in showing that one and the same service problem is perceived very differently, de- pending on whether customers are affected on their own or as a group. According to this study, service mistakes affec- ting a group lead to far greater annoyance with the supplier than mistakes affecting individuals, as researchers report in the »Journal of Service Research«. The reason they give for this is the consensus effect which states that people tend to suspect the cause of an event to be beyond their own sphere of influence if other people are also affected. US Poor service? There is a big difference for disappointed customers whether they alone are affected by poor service or as a group, according to the results of the study. After a service mistake is made which affects a group, customers are more inclined to talk negatively about the provider in front of acquaintances and to register a complaint. How do German citizens perceive refugees who seek shelter here? One result of this research project conducted by students is that anyone who sees themselves primarily as German or as part of Germany, tends to experience strangers as a threat – and their view of them is one of rejection.