Optimal Distinctiveness and Intergroup Discrimination

我们国家学校里的种族关系和暴力问题，部分源于人类寻求融入社会群体的基本需求，以及维护和捍卫区分内部群体和外部群体的界限。在这种背景下，如果我们要了解如何在不受群体间冲突、偏见和歧视的破坏性影响的情况下满足社会认同的需求，那么关于个人与其社会群体之间联系的社会心理学理论和研究就尤为重要。“最优独特性”理论是一种关于群体认同动机基础的理论，该理论认为，群体认同是被选择和维持的，以帮助个人在包容的需要和与他人区分的需要之间取得平衡。“最优”身份是群体成员，满足群体内的包容需求，并通过群体间的比较和独特性来满足差异化需求。当群体内的包容或群体间的分化受到威胁时，身份需求就会被唤起。当前研究项目的目的是扩展最优独特性理论的应用，以了解哪些因素决定了包容和差异化需求的强度，特别关注对群体间态度和行为的影响。十项相互关联的研究测试了价值取向和多重群体成员身份对个人对最佳社会身份威胁的敏感性的影响。据预测，集体主义价值观与高度的包容和差异化需求、有限的最佳认同范围以及对该认同威胁的高度敏感有关。相比之下，个人主义价值观被认为与宽容包容和较少关注群体内群体外差异有关。多种可选择的社会身份的可用性预计将产生与个人主义价值观类似的影响，降低对特定社会身份威胁的敏感性，并增加对外群体的接受程度。这些假设在结合实验室实验和跨国调查的多方法研究计划中得到检验。这些研究的结果将有助于理解社会结构、价值体系和个人需求如何结合起来决定群体内认同和群体外歧视之间的关系。

Race relations and violence in our nation's schools are problems that stem in part from fundamental human needs to seek inclusion in social groups and to maintain and defend the boundaries that distinguish ingroups from outgroups. In this context, social psychological theory and research on the connection between individuals and their social groups is particularly critical if we are to understand how needs for social identity can be met without the devastating effects of intergroup conflict, prejudice, and discrimination. The theory of "optimal distinctiveness" is a theory of the motivational underpinnings of group identification which holds that group identities are selected and maintained to help the individual achieve a balance between the need for inclusion and the need for differentiation from others. "Optimal" identities are group memberships that meet the need for inclusion within the group and meet the need for differentiation through intergroup comparison and distinctiveness. Identity needs can be aroused if either intragroup inclusion or intergroup differentiation are threatened. The purpose of the current program of research is to extend the application of optimal distinctiveness theory to understanding what factors determine the strength of the needs for inclusion and differentiation, with particular attention to implications for intergroup attitudes and behavior. Ten interrelated studies test the effects of value orientations and multiple group memberships on an individual's sensitivity to threats to optimal social identity. Collectivist values are predicted to be associated with heightened needs for inclusion and differentiation, a limited range of optimal identity, and high levels of sensitivity to threats to that identity. Individualist values, by contrast, are expected to be associated with tolerance for inclusiveness and less concern for ingroup-outgroup distinctions. The availability of multiple alternative social identities is expected to have effects similar to those of individualist values, reducing sensitivity to threats to specific social identities and increasing acceptance of outgroups. These hypotheses are tested in a multi-methodological program of research combining laboratory experiments and cross-national surveys. Results from these studies will contribute to understanding how social structure, value systems, and individual needs combine to determine the relationship between ingroup identification and outgroup discrimination.