The Cost of Covering: Psychological & Physiological Implications of Managing a Stigmatized Identity

承保成本：心理

• 批准号: 0843872
• 负责人: Jennifer Richeson
• 金额: $ 27.43万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-07-01 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0843872&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Cost; Covering; Psychological; & Physiological

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Studies of intergroup contact often focus on how members of visibly stigmatized groups, such as racial minorities, maintain high levels of self-esteem after they have experienced poor treatment or have otherwise been reminded of their group's devalued status. Less attention, however, has been devoted to how members of socially-devalued groups attempt to manage these interactions and the costs these efforts may entail. The present work examines one strategy that members of racial minorities may adopt in interracial interactions in anticipation of negative treatment by others, with the objective of preempting it. Known as "covering," this self-presentation strategy is one where individuals shift, suppress, or otherwise avoid discussing topics that are closely associated with their group membership during interracial interactions and is designed to reduce any negative reactions that their interaction partners may have to their group membership. This project will examine covering behavior on the part of racial minority (Black and Latino) students of an elite, predominantly White, private university, a context in which these individuals are both numerically underrepresented and culturally devalued. In a series of laboratory studies, this research will examine (1) the extent to which racial minority individuals engage in covering during interactions with and/or communications directed toward racial majority group members, and (2) the potential costs of covering, including feelings of shame, increased loneliness, physiological stress reactions, and impaired cognitive performance.Given the widespread benefits of increased diversity in educational and employment domains, it is important to understand the experiences of racial minority individuals who attempt to persist and succeed in the face of severe numerical under-representation and prevalent negative group stereotypes. This research, therefore, has the potential to directly benefit institutions of higher education, by informing academic leaders as they seek to increase racial diversity, design environments that facilitate positive interracial contact experiences for all students, and create programs that contribute to minority students' academic success. Insight into these issues will undoubtedly aid in the development of interventions to improve the quality of life of members of racial minority groups who manage to persist in the face of negative group expectations, as well as increase the number of individuals who are able to do so.

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助的。对群体间接触的研究往往侧重于明显受到污名化的群体，如少数族裔，在经历了恶劣的待遇或以其他方式被提醒其群体的贬值地位后，如何保持高度的自尊。然而，对社会贬值群体的成员如何试图管理这些互动以及这些努力可能带来的成本的关注较少。本工作审查了少数族裔成员在种族间互动中可能采取的一种战略，即预期受到他人的消极待遇，目的是先发制人。这种自我呈现策略被称为“掩饰”，在种族间的互动中，个体转移、压制或以其他方式避免讨论与他们的群体成员密切相关的话题，旨在减少他们的互动伙伴对他们的群体成员可能产生的任何负面反应。这个项目将研究少数族裔(黑人和拉丁裔)学生在一所精英、以白人为主的私立大学的报道行为，在这种背景下，这些人在数字上代表不足，在文化上也被贬低。在一系列的实验室研究中，这项研究将检验(1)少数族裔个体在与少数族裔群体成员互动和/或针对少数族裔群体成员的交流中参与覆盖的程度，以及(2)覆盖的潜在成本，包括羞耻感、增加的孤独感、生理应激反应和认知表现受损。鉴于教育和就业领域多样性增加的广泛好处，重要的是了解少数族裔个体在面对严重的数字代表性不足和普遍的负面群体刻板印象时试图坚持并取得成功的经历。因此，这项研究有可能直接造福于高等教育机构，因为它向寻求增加种族多样性的学术领袖提供信息，为所有学生设计促进积极的种族间接触体验的环境，并创建有助于少数族裔学生学术成功的项目。对这些问题的了解无疑将有助于制定干预措施，以改善少数族裔群体成员的生活质量，这些成员在面对群体的负面期望时设法坚持下去，并增加有能力这样做的人的数量。