Success Narratives and Shared Histories: Mitigating Refugee Dehumanization in Poland

This article reports a series of three studies that replicate and extend previous findings on the role of agency in ascribing humanness to immigrants and refugees. Building on earlier research conducted in heterogeneous societies (Formanowicz et al., 2023c), we first replicated this effect in a homogeneous society-Poland-where the presence of refugees is markedly lower. In Study 1 (N = 249), we found that emphasizing refugees’ success increased perceptions of their agency and humanness but also heightened threat perceptions, which in turn mitigated the humanizing effect. In Study 2 (N = 272), conducted in a non-threatening context, success boosted both agency and humanness without eliciting additional threat concerns. Extending the literature further, Study 3 (N = 343) introduced a novel manipulation: reminding Polish participants of shared migration history. This intervention enhanced the humanization of refugees independently of agency. These findings not only replicate established effects in a new cultural setting but also demonstrate that historical narratives can serve as an effective tool for promoting refugee humanization in homogeneous societies-particularly when the context is non-threatening or emphasizes a shared heritage.