Collaborative Research: Intergroup Emotions Theory: New Strategies for Prejudice Reduction through Categorization and Personal Contact

一个群体成员对另一个群体成员的偏见和歧视无处不在。这个合作研究项目旨在更好地理解在何种情况下，对其他群体的情绪会加剧或减少偏见和歧视。研究已经表明，群体之间的反感和不容忍通常是由特定的情绪（如愤怒和怨恨、恐惧和焦虑、同情或内疚）驱动的，这些情绪在人们遇到其他群体的成员时被激起。本提案中的两组研究侧重于针对其他群体的特定情绪的两个重要前提。在第一组研究中，研究了人们对群体成员的感知变化。评估了这些分类变化对情绪的影响，以及个体情绪状态对分类过程本身的潜在影响。第二组研究考察了与另一个群体的个体成员的个人接触，以此来理解有助于产生积极结果的特定情绪，以及这些情绪如何在群体之间的接触中转化为公开的行为。综上所述，这项研究的结果将显示先决条件如何影响情绪，进而转化为偏见和行为，以及这一顺序如何被改变或短路。通过展示对其他群体的情绪何时以及如何加剧或减少偏见和歧视，这些研究结果可能阐明减少这些重要社会问题的方法。

Prejudice and discrimination by members of one group against members of another group is ubiquitous. This collaborative research project aims to better understand the conditions under which emotions felt toward other groups can exacerbate or reduce prejudice and discrimination. Research has already shown that antipathy and intolerance between groups is often driven by specific emotions (such as anger and resentment, fear and anxiety, sympathy, or guilt) that are aroused when people encounter members of other groups. The two sets of studies in this proposal focus on two important antecedents of specific emotions directed at other groups. In the first set of studies changes in people's perceived group membership is examined. The impact of these changes in categorization on emotions is assessed as well as the potential effects of an individual's emotional state on the categorization process itself. The second set of studies examines personal contact with an individual member of another group as a way of understanding the specific emotions that contribute to a positive outcome, and how these emotions translate into overt behavior in encounters between groups. Taken together, findings from this research will show how preconditions influence emotions which then translate into prejudice and behavior, and how this sequence might be altered or short-circuited. By showing when and how emotions toward other groups can exacerbate or reduce prejudice and discrimination, these research results may illuminate ways of reducing these important social problems.