Individual and Situational Determinants of Psychophysiological Responses to Race-Based Discrimination

拟议的研究考察了对种族歧视的心理生理反应的个人和情境决定因素。该项目由两个部分组成。第一部分的主要目的是在实验室环境中评估心血管和肌电图对基于种族歧视的类似物反应的个体和情境决定因素。第二个组成部分的主要目的是使用动态生理监测来检查该领域对基于种族的歧视的心理生理反应的个体差异。心理生理学的方法被用来达到这些目标。迄今为止，大多数调查种族歧视反应的研究主要集中在对种族歧视反应的个人决定因素和在实验室环境中收集的主观数据。如果没有考虑基于种族的歧视经历的情境特征如何影响对这些经历的反应，就会导致对造成对基于种族的歧视反应的个体差异的潜在机制的不完整和不准确的了解。在对基于种族的歧视的反应的研究中，报告者的主观数据偏差也存在问题，因为参与者可能由于缺乏意识或社会期望而低估或夸大反应。最后一个考虑因素是，这些研究大多是在实验室环境中进行的，因此很难确定这些研究的结果是否适用于基于种族的歧视的现实经验。拟议的项目通过在实验室和自然环境中使用心理生理学方法以及考虑基于种族的歧视经历的情境相关性，独特地解决了这些缺点。因此，该提案寻求增加关于基于种族的歧视在各种情况下的更广泛的心理和生理影响的基本知识。更广泛的影响拟议的启动研究基金的资助将导致美国科学中代表性不足的少数民族的参与增加。少数民族本科生和研究生将接受最先进的心理生理学方法培训，为工业和学术职位做准备。执行拟议的研究也将有助于为一个刚刚起步的研究项目奠定基础，该项目的成功将直接导致本科生、研究生和教职员工中少数族裔人数的增加。拟议研究的第二个影响涉及非裔美国人的健康和福祉。虽然拟议的研究没有明确关注健康结果，但它有助于加强健康差异研究文献的议程，这些文献旨在研究基于种族的歧视和其他因素在非裔美国人和其他种族和族裔健康差异中的作用。拟议的研究活动符合正在进行的努力：(1)确定有可能影响和减少健康差距的社会心理变量；(2)促进少数民族健康；(3)减少并最终消除涉及心血管疾病和其他疾病的健康差距。

The proposed research examines individual and situational determinants of psychophysiological responses to race-based discrimination. The project consists of two components. The primary aim of the first component is to evaluate individual and situational determinants of cardiovascular and electromyographic responses to race-based discrimination analogues in a laboratory setting. The primary aim of the second component is to use ambulatory physiological monitoring to examine individual differences in psychophysiological responses to race-based discrimination in the field. Psychophysiological methods are used to attain these objectives.Intellectual MeritTo date, the majority of studies examining responses to race-based discrimination have focused primarily on individual determinants of responses to race-based discrimination and subjective data collected in a laboratory setting. The failure to consider how situational characteristics of race-based discrimination experiences also influence responses to these experiences lends itself to an incomplete and inaccurate picture of the underlying mechanisms that account for individual differences in responses to race-based discrimination. Reporter biases in subjective data are also problematic in studies of responses to race-based discrimination as participants can underestimate or exaggerate responses due to lack of awareness or social desirability. A final consideration is the fact that the majority of these studies have been conducted in laboratory settings, making it difficult to ascertain whether the findings in these studies generalize to real-world experiences of race-based discrimination. The proposed project uniquely addresses these shortcomings through the use of psychophysiological methods in laboratory and naturalistic settings and the consideration of situational correlates of race-based discrimination experiences. As such, the proposal seeks to increase basic knowledge about both the broader psychological and physiological impacts of race-based discrimination across settings.Broader ImpactsFunding of the proposed Starter Research Grant would result in the increased participation of underrepresented minorities in U.S. science. Underrepresented ethnic minority undergraduate and graduate students would receive state-of-the-art training in psychophysiological methods in preparation for industry and academic positions. Execution of the proposed research would also help to lay the foundation for a fledgling research program whose success will directly lead to the increased presence of underrepresented minorities at the undergraduate, graduate, and faculty levels.A second impact of the proposed research concerns African American health and well-being. Although the proposed research does not focus explicitly on health outcomes, it stands to enhance the agenda of the health disparities research literature which seeks to examine the role of race-based discrimination and other factors in African American and other racial and ethnic health disparities. The proposed research activities are consistent with ongoing efforts to: (1) identify psychosocial variables that have the potential to influence and reduce health disparities; (2) promote minority health; and (3) reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities involving cardiovascular illnesses and other diseases.