The Influence of Social Desirability Pressures on Expressed Immigration Attitudes

• Published in: Social science quarterly Vol. 91; no. 4; pp. 928 - 946
• Main Author: Janus, Alexander L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.12.2010; Wiley-Blackwell; Wiley; Southwestern Social Science Association; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Series: Social Science Quarterly
• Subjects: Attitude surveys; Attitudes; College Graduates; Conservatism; Educational attainment; Experiments; Graduates; Hispanics; Human ecology and demography; Immigration; Immigration Policy; Liberalism; Liberals; Noncitizens; Of General Interest; Political attitudes; Political behavior; Political ideologies; Politics; Pressure; Public opinion; Social Desirability; Social desirability bias; Social Scientists; Social surveys; Sociology; Sociology of migrations; Surveys; Telephone Surveys; U.S.A; United States Of America; Telephone Survey; Attitude towards; Racial relation; Social Desirability; Immigration; Immigration Policy; Liberalism

Objective. Immigration scholars have found that the highly educated and political liberals are considerably less likely to support restrictionist immigration policies than other groups. I ask whether the influence of social desirability pressures in the survey interview is responsible for this findi...