Intergroup Interactions: Mediating Role of Behavior Regulation

自1954年美国最高法院作出重大裁决，将种族隔离作为国家法律以来，白人和黑人之间的接触越来越多。 先前的研究已经证明了个人的态度和刻板印象对群体间互动的动态可能产生的巨大影响。 然而，这项工作的大部分，采取了“个人主义”的方法，只要研究人员研究的一个方面的二元组间互动。 目前的研究采取了一个步骤，超越了这种方法，研究组间互动的角度，白人和黑人同时。 这项工作将重点关注白人对出现偏见的担忧，以及黑人对成为偏见目标的担忧，如何在种族间互动中塑造自己和伴侣的情感和认知结果。 具体来说，提出了一个矛盾的模型，预测白人和黑人的偏见的关注，负面影响自己的经验，在种族间的互动，但积极影响他们的合作伙伴的经验。此外，本研究将探讨行为调节在人际关系中的中介因素与偏见和情感和认知结果之间的关系。 据预测，白人谁是关注出现偏见试图控制他们的非语言和语言行为，这是什么导致的二元体成员的经验的差异影响。同样，预测担心成为偏见目标的黑人会使用补偿性行为策略，从而导致二元体成员的经验产生差异性影响。 这些研究将丰富我们对群际接触的理论理解。此外，研究将提供信息，以帮助改善在人际交往中的代表性不足的少数民族群体的心理健康。

Since the momentous 1954 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court mandating racial desegregation as the law of the land, Whites and Blacks have come into increasing contact with one another. Previous research has documented the dramatic impact that individuals' attitudes and stereotypes can have on the dynamics of intergroup interactions. The majority of this work, however, has taken an "individualistic" approach, insofar as researchers study one side of the dyadic intergroup interaction. The current research takes a step beyond this approach by studying intergroup interactions from the perspective of both Whites and Blacks simultaneously. This work will focus on how Whites' concerns about appearing prejudiced, and Blacks' concerns about being the target of prejudice, shape their own and their partner's affective and cognitive outcomes during interracial interactions. Specifically, a paradoxical model of interracial interactions is proposed which predicts that Whites' and Blacks' concerns with prejudice negatively impact their own experiences in interracial interactions, but positively impact their partners' experiences. Moreover, the proposed research will examine the mediating factor of behavioral regulation in the relationship between interpersonal concerns with prejudice and affective and cognitive outcomes. It is predicted that Whites who are concerned with appearing prejudiced attempt to control their nonverbal and verbal behaviors, which is what leads to the differential impact in the dyad members' experiences. Similarly, it is predicted that Blacks who are concerned about being the target of prejudice use compensatory behavioral strategies, which lead to the differential impact in the dyad members' experiences. These studies will enrich our theoretical understanding of intergroup contact. Moreover, the research will provide information to help improve the psychological well-being of underrepresented ethnic minority groups during interpersonal interactions.