Dynamic Cognitive and Motivational Properties of System Justification

系统论证的动态认知和动机特性

• 批准号: 0617558
• 负责人: John Jost
• 金额: $ 18.22万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-10-01 至 2009-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0617558&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dynamic; Cognitive; Motivational; Properties; System

The aim of this project is to investigate human responses to threats directed at existing social systems. Threats to the status quo may be direct, as when the American system was attacked on 9/11, or indirect, as when its faults are exposed, as in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Such threats tend to provoke negative affect and motivate people to defend and bolster the social system. This defensive response serves to reestablish positive affect, but it can have unanticipated and sometimes deleterious consequences. System justification, which refers to the psychological process whereby the status quo is defended and upheld simply because it exists, has been associated with increased stereotyping, victim-blaming, and resistance to change. System-justifying responses are elicited and accentuated by threats to the system, and they can help maintain an imperfect but established state. Three experimental studies will examine the cognitive-motivational basis of system justification. In Study 1, the investigators will determine whether system justification is a motivated, goal-oriented process. If the system justification goal is indeed activated when the system is threatened, the motivation to restore system legitimacy should drive behavior until it is achieved. Insofar as a goal can be attained through various means, these means should be substitutable. While system threat should lead participants to experience feelings of discomfort, the goal of system justification can be met by affirming any of several positive features of the system, thereby restoring positive affect. In Study 2, the investigators will address the motivational property of goal-resumption by observing whether people for whom the system justification goal has been activated by system threat are more likely to fulfill the goal after it has been interrupted, in comparison with people for whom the goal has not been activated. In Study 3, the investigators will determine whether system justification is a goal that is distinct from self-enhancement and ingroup favoritism by comparing responses of high vs. low socio-economic status participants to system threat. The hypothesis is that self- affirmation and group-affirmation are not substitutable as routes to affirming the value of the social system, so that affirming oneself or one's group should not deactivate the system justification goal--unless one's group is seen as highly representative of the system. This research will promote scientific training, teaching, and learning, because undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in all phases of the research. As in previous work, the PI will work closely with a diverse group of students and collaborators. The research results will be disseminated widely to a public and scientific audience.

该项目的目的是调查人类对针对现有社会系统的威胁的反应。 对现状的威胁可能是直接的，如美国体系在9/11事件中受到攻击，也可能是间接的，如美国体系的缺陷暴露出来，如卡特里娜飓风的后果。 这种威胁往往会引起负面影响，促使人们捍卫和支持社会制度。 这种防御性反应有助于重新建立积极的影响，但它可能会产生意想不到的，有时甚至是有害的后果。 制度正当化是指一种心理过程，即仅仅因为现状存在就捍卫和维护现状，这种心理过程与刻板印象、受害者指责和抵制变革的增加有关。 对系统的威胁会引发和强化系统辩护反应，它们可以帮助维持一个不完美但已建立的状态。三个实验研究将检查系统的理由的认知动机的基础。 在研究1中，研究者将确定系统论证是否是一个有动机的、目标导向的过程。 如果当系统受到威胁时，系统正当性目标确实被激活，那么恢复系统合法性的动机应该驱动行为，直到它实现。 作为一个目标，不确定性可以通过多种手段来实现，这些手段应该是可替代的。 虽然系统威胁应该导致参与者体验不适感，但系统合理化的目标可以通过肯定系统的几个积极特征中的任何一个来实现，从而恢复积极的影响。 在研究2中，研究者将通过观察与目标未被激活的人相比，被系统威胁激活了系统正当化目标的人在目标被打断后是否更有可能实现目标，来探讨目标恢复的动机属性。 在研究3中，研究人员将通过比较高与低社会经济地位参与者对系统威胁的反应来确定系统合理性是否是一个与自我增强和内群体偏好不同的目标。 这个假设是，自我肯定和群体肯定是不可替代的路线，以肯定社会制度的价值，所以肯定自己或一个人的群体不应该去激活系统的正当化目标-除非一个人的群体被视为高度代表的系统。 这项研究将促进科学培训，教学和学习，因为本科生和研究生将参与研究的各个阶段。 与以前的工作一样，PI将与不同的学生和合作者密切合作。 研究结果将向公众和科学界广泛传播。