Optimal Distinctiveness and Intergroup Discrimination

我国学校中的种族关系和暴力问题部分源于人类的基本需要，即寻求融入社会群体，维持和捍卫区分内部群体和外部群体的界限。在这种背景下，如果我们要理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。“最佳独特性”理论是一种关于群体认同的动机基础的理论，认为群体认同的选择和维持是为了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。“最佳”身份是群体成员身份，既能满足融入群体的需要，又能满足通过群体间比较和独特性进行区分的需要。如果群体内的包容或群体间的分化受到威胁，身份认同的需求就会被激发出来。目前的研究计划的目的是扩展最佳独特性理论的应用，以了解哪些因素决定了包容性和差异化需求的强度，特别注意对群体间态度和行为的影响。10个相互关联的研究测试的影响，价值取向和多组成员对个人的敏感性，以最佳的社会身份的威胁。预计集体主义价值观与高度的包容和差异化需求、有限的最佳身份以及对身份威胁的高度敏感性有关。相比之下，个人主义价值观预计将与包容性的宽容以及对群体内外差异的较少关注有关。多种替代性社会身份的可用性预计将产生类似于个人主义价值观的影响，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。这些假设是测试在一个多方法的研究方案相结合的实验室实验和跨国调查。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联合收割机来决定内群体认同和外群体歧视之间的关系。

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.