Collaborative Research: Creating Status Characteristics and Breaking Them Down

标题：合作研究：创造地位特征并将其打破--个人投资：默里·韦伯斯特、丽莎·拉霍特和艾莉森·比安奇研究所：北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校；爱荷华州大学这个奖项支持对一项新理论的实验测试，该理论描述了地位价值如何从地位特征传播到未经评估的名义特征。研究的问题是，特征是如何承载尊重、社会价值和表演技能的内涵的，而不是简单的描述性术语。从理论上讲，在特定的条件下，身份价值可以从现有的身份特征扩展到新的名义特征，从简单的描述符转变为社会价值和能力的指示。研究策略是设计和进行实验室实验，通过尝试在北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校第一年创建新的状态特征，并在爱荷华州大学第二年使用补充技术分解现有的状态特征，来测试该理论。这项研究将完善理论模型，并有助于对地位过程的大量实证研究。随着应用研究人员开发出使用与我们在实验室开发的技术类似的技术来控制地位创造过程的方法，这项工作的广泛影响将出现在学校和组织环境中。几十年来，地位泛化理论一直被用来设计干预措施，以减少现有身份特征(如种族和性别)的有害影响；从这项工作中，我们将了解如何阻止新特征的产生，并消除其地位价值。这种方法应该非常有用，消除地位影响，而不是部分克服它们，或创造新的地位特征，而不是暂时赋予一些地位优势和劣势。即使在没有干预的情况下，了解地位创造的过程也可以使观察员在对其他个人的评估中防范这种情况。最后，这一合作项目将有经验的私人投资机构与年轻的私人投资机构联系起来，加强了这两个机构的研究基础设施。

Title: Collaborative Research: Creating Status Characteristics and Breaking Them DownPIs: Murray Webster, Lisa Rashotte, and Alison BianchiInstitutions: University of North Carolina at Charlotte; University of IowaThis award supports experimental tests of a new theory describing how status value can spread from status characteristics to unevaluated, nominal characteristics. The research question is how characteristics come to carry connotations of esteem, social worth, and performance skills instead of being simply descriptive terms. Theoretically, under specified conditions, status value can spread from existing status characteristics to new nominal characteristics, changing them from simple descriptors to indications of social worth and ability. The research strategy is to design and conduct laboratory experiments to test the theory by attempting to create a new status characteristic in Year 1 at UNC Charlotte, and using complementary techniques to break down an existing status characteristic in Year 2 at Iowa. The research will improve the theoretical model and contribute to a large body of empirical research on status processes.Broader impacts of this work will appear in schools and organizational settings as applied researchers develop ways to control the status creation process using techniques similar to those we develop in the laboratory. For several decades, status generalization theories have been used to design interventions to reduce harmful effects of existing status characteristics such as ethnicity and gender; from this work we will understand ways to head off the creation of new characteristics, and to eliminate their status value. Such approaches should be very useful, eliminating status effects rather than partially overcoming them, or creating new status characteristics instead of temporarily conferring some status advantages and disadvantages. Even without interventions, understanding the process of status creation can allow observers to guard against it in their assessments of other individuals. Finally, this collaborative project links experienced PIs with a younger PI, strengthening the research infrastructure at both of the institutions.