Social signals of belonging: How the perceived ethnic-national background of friends affects ascriptions of belonging given to descendants of migrants

Many descendants of migrants feel belonging to both the national group and the ethnic minority group of their family (dual identity), but they often experience that majority members see them only as ethnic minority members. This could hamper their potential to improve intergroup relations. Because social networks tend to be homogeneous, having friends from a particular group could be interpreted as a signal of someone's group belonging. Our research advances the field by examining how the ethnic minority/national majority composition of the friendship network of descendants of migrants may affect the national/dual ascriptions they receive. In two vignette studies, we manipulated the composition of the friend group, using names or AI-generated faces of fictitious Moroccan-Dutch individuals, and examined how this affected ascriptions and stereotypical evaluations given by a representative sample of Dutch majority members. We find mixed results; having Dutch friends increased Dutch ascriptions and having mixed friends increased dual ascriptions when participants read text. However, these effects were attenuated when targets' faces were categorized. This suggests that information about phenotype limits the effects of friend group composition. Future research should examine these dynamics in real-world environments where phenotype and social cues coexist.