SGER: Collaborative Research: Racialized Explanations: Consequences for Intergroup and Intragroup Processes

在卡特里娜飓风过后的几个星期里，越来越多的美国人问道：“为什么救援行动如此缓慢？”对于官方对灾难的缓慢反应，人们给出了多种解释，但只有一种解释认为种族主义是真正的罪魁祸首。这些实验检验了卡特里娜飓风救援行动缓慢的种族化解释（即基于种族主义的解释），并为越来越多的关于声称自己是歧视受害者的代价的研究做出了贡献。这一领域的研究表明，当美国黑人将事件归咎于歧视而不是其他原因时，他们就会受到贬损。然而，这项工作倾向于关注白人对个别黑人申请者的反应（例如，人际关系过程，如喜欢）。当其他黑人声称种族歧视是罪魁祸首时，美国黑人的反应却鲜为人知。对于这些类型的主张如何影响黑人和白人之间的社会认同过程，我们所知的就更少了。本研究考察了种族化解释的群体间和群体内后果。pi假设，种族化的解释增加了种族意识，以及个人对特定种族群体的认同程度。种族化的解释通常被认为对美国黑人和白人都有威胁，当人们遇到对自我重要方面的威胁时，他们会求助于自己的身份来减轻这些威胁。白人比黑人更相信美国社会是一个所有公民都有平等机会和生活机会的社会，对他们来说，种族歧视指控挑战了根深蒂固的信念。对美国黑人来说，种族化的解释也对自我构成威胁，因为它们提醒他们，自我的一个重要部分（即一个人的种族身份）长期而普遍地被贬低了。因此，种族歧视的主张应该导致弱势群体的成员转向群体内的其他成员寻求支持和集体认可。指导这项研究的第二组假设涉及个人帮助飓风受害者的意愿。pi假设，种族意识和认同的增强会导致白人减少同情和帮助以黑人为主的飓风幸存者的意愿；而种族意识和认同的提高会使黑人更愿意同情和帮助黑人飓风幸存者。最后，本研究还探讨了可能有助于减轻群体间偏见和增加帮助飓风受害者的总体意愿的因素。通过对利他主义的研究，pi们假设，通过有效地增加个人对受害者的同理心，可以减少群体间的分歧态度，这反过来又增加了帮助幸存者的意愿，而不管他们的种族。这项研究的结果可以帮助理解种族歧视对群体间认知、偏见和关系的影响。

In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, Americans increasingly asked: "Why were the rescue efforts so slow?" There were many types of explanations offered for the slow official response to the disaster, but only one that suggested that racism was the real culprit. These experiments examine the racialized explanations (i.e., explanations based upon racism) for the slow rescue efforts to Hurricane Katrina, and contribute to the growing body of research on the costs of claiming to be a victim of discrimination. Research in this area has demonstrated that when Black Americans blame events on discrimination rather than on other causes, they are derogated. However, this work has tended to focus on Whites' reactions (e.g., interpersonal processes such as liking) toward individual Black claimants. Much less is known about how Black Americans react when other Blacks claim that racial discrimination is to blame. Even less is known about the way that these types of claims affect social identification processes among Blacks and Whites. This research examines the intergroup and intragroup consequences of racialized explanations. The PIs hypothesized that racialized explanations increase racial awareness as well as the extent to which individuals identify with specific racial groups. Racialized explanations are generally thought to be threatening to both Black and White Americans, and when people encounter threats to important aspects of the self, they turn to their identities to alleviate these threats. For White Americans, who are more likely than Black Americans to believe that American society is one in which all citizens have equal opportunities and life chances, racial discrimination claims challenge deeply-held beliefs. For Black Americans, racialized explanations are also threatening to the self because they remind them that an important part of the self (i.e., one's racial identity) is chronically and pervasively devalued. Consequently, racial discrimination claims should cause members of disadvantaged groups to turn to fellow ingroup members for support and collective validation. A second set of hypotheses that guided this research involves individuals' willingness to help victims of the hurricane. The PIs hypothesized that increases in racial awareness and identification would lead Whites to decrease their willingness to empathize with and help the predominantly Black hurricane survivors; whereas increases in racial awareness and identification would lead Blacks to be more willing to empathize with and help Black hurricane survivors. Finally, this research also examines the factors that may help to attenuate intergroup bias and increase overall willingness to help hurricane victims. By drawing from research on altruism the PIs hypothesized that by effectively increasing individuals' empathetic feelings towards victims, less divisive intergroup attitudes result, and this in turn increases willingness to help survivors regardless of their race. Findings from this research can inform understanding of the effects of racial discrimination claims upon intergroup perceptions, biases and relationships.