Exploring the Psychological and Political Dimensions of Attitudes Towards Immigrants From Ukraine: Insights From the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits

This study examines how personality traits (Five-Factor Model) and personality metatraits (Circumplex of Personality Metatraits), together with political attitudes, relate to attitudes towards Ukrainian immigrants in Poland, providing the first empirical test of the CPM's predictive value in this context. A nationally representative sample of 983 Polish adults was analysed. Measures included personality traits and metatraits, attitudes towards immigrants and political parties, and sociodemographic variables. Results demonstrated that Agreeableness was a significant positive predictor of pro-immigrant attitudes, whereas Conscientiousness was associated with more negative attitudes. Within the Circumplex of Personality Metatraits, Beta-Plus/Plasticity positively predicted support for immigrants, while Alpha-Minus/Disinhibition was linked to anti-immigrant sentiments. Political attitudes emerged as strong predictors: positive attitudes towards the centre-left Civic Coalition were associated with favourable views of immigrants, whereas support for the far-right Confederation was related to anti-immigrant attitudes. The regression models explained up to 20% of the variance in immigration attitudes. These findings underscore the utility of the CPM in immigration research and suggest that both personality characteristics and political attitudes play a significant role in shaping public opinion on immigration.