There are perceived economic and security concerns related to immigration and refugees among the population in many countries and the media sometimes convey an image of immigration and refugees as a social problem. It is therefore necessary to analyse that influence, especially in those who will have a direct relationship with the displaced, such as teachers. This study searched to determine the extent to which the frequency of use of different media influence attitudes towards refugees in 205 pre-service teachers, and to test whether attitudes related to cognitive factors influence affective attitudes towards refugees. A questionnaire has been used to measure the attitudes towards refugees in four dimensions: affective, economic labour, social, and immigration policy. The statistics used were descriptive analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of simple and multiple linear regressions. The results suggest that cognitive factors such as attitudes towards economic labour, social, and immigration policy predict affective attitudes towards refugees. Regarding the use of media as a source of information about the refugee situation, the study indicates a clear influence of the media on attitudes in pre-service teachers, with more positive attitudes among those who did not use or made little use of the media. © 2023, Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc.. All rights reserved.

ISSN: 03137155