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

一个群体的成员对另一个群体的成员的偏见和歧视无处不在。这项合作研究项目旨在更好地了解对其他群体的情绪在何种情况下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宽容通常是由人们遇到其他群体成员时引发的特定情绪(如愤怒和怨恨、恐惧和焦虑、同情或内疚)驱动的。这项建议中的两组研究集中在针对其他群体的特定情绪的两个重要前置因素上。在第一组研究中，考察了人们感知到的群体成员身份的变化。评估了分类过程中这些变化对情绪的影响，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中的个人成员的个人接触，以此来了解有助于积极结果的特定情绪，以及这些情绪如何在群体之间的相遇中转化为公开行为。综上所述，这项研究的发现将展示前提条件如何影响情绪，进而转化为偏见和行为，以及这一序列可能如何被改变或短路。通过展示对其他群体的情绪何时以及如何可以加剧或减少偏见和歧视，这些研究结果可能会揭示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.