Inconsistencies in repeated refugee status decisions
Pärnamets, Philip ; Tagesson, Alexander LU and Wallin, Annika LU
(2020)
In Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
33(5).
p.569-578
- Abstract
- Consistency in civil servant decisions is paramount to upholding judicial equality for citizens and individuals seeking safety through governmental intervention. We investigated refugee status decisions made by a sample of civil servants at the Swedish Migration Agency. We hypothesized, based on the emotional demands such decisions bring with them, that participants would exhibit a compassion fade effect such that refugee status was less likely to be granted over time. To test this, we administered a questionnaire containing brief presentations of asylum seekers and asked participants to judge how likely they would be to give refugee status to the person. Crucially the first, middle, and final case presented were matched on decision... (More)
- Consistency in civil servant decisions is paramount to upholding judicial equality for citizens and individuals seeking safety through governmental intervention. We investigated refugee status decisions made by a sample of civil servants at the Swedish Migration Agency. We hypothesized, based on the emotional demands such decisions bring with them, that participants would exhibit a compassion fade effect such that refugee status was less likely to be granted over time. To test this, we administered a questionnaire containing brief presentations of asylum seekers and asked participants to judge how likely they would be to give refugee status to the person. Crucially the first, middle, and final case presented were matched on decision relevant characteristics. Consistent with our hypothesis, we saw a significant decline in ratings. These effects were accentuated by the amount of time a participant had worked at the agency, consistent with depletion of affective resources, and attenuated in workers with greater responsibility and additional training. We conclude that active regulation of empathic and affective responses to asylum seekers may play a role in determining the outcome in refugee status decisions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/23481e6b-3b54-4964-a4f7-9f6810eeb02e
- author
- Pärnamets, Philip
; Tagesson, Alexander
LU
and Wallin, Annika
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2020
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
- volume
- 33
- issue
- 5
- pages
- 569 - 578
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85096285062
- ISSN
- 1099-0771
- DOI
- 10.1002/bdm.2176
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 23481e6b-3b54-4964-a4f7-9f6810eeb02e
- date added to LUP
- 2020-02-14 12:45:30
- date last changed
- 2024-04-03 02:29:50
@article{23481e6b-3b54-4964-a4f7-9f6810eeb02e,
abstract = {{Consistency in civil servant decisions is paramount to upholding judicial equality for citizens and individuals seeking safety through governmental intervention. We investigated refugee status decisions made by a sample of civil servants at the Swedish Migration Agency. We hypothesized, based on the emotional demands such decisions bring with them, that participants would exhibit a compassion fade effect such that refugee status was less likely to be granted over time. To test this, we administered a questionnaire containing brief presentations of asylum seekers and asked participants to judge how likely they would be to give refugee status to the person. Crucially the first, middle, and final case presented were matched on decision relevant characteristics. Consistent with our hypothesis, we saw a significant decline in ratings. These effects were accentuated by the amount of time a participant had worked at the agency, consistent with depletion of affective resources, and attenuated in workers with greater responsibility and additional training. We conclude that active regulation of empathic and affective responses to asylum seekers may play a role in determining the outcome in refugee status decisions.}},
author = {{Pärnamets, Philip and Tagesson, Alexander and Wallin, Annika}},
issn = {{1099-0771}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
pages = {{569--578}},
publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
series = {{Journal of Behavioral Decision Making}},
title = {{Inconsistencies in repeated refugee status decisions}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2176}},
doi = {{10.1002/bdm.2176}},
volume = {{33}},
year = {{2020}},
}