Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Social Roots of Implicit Racial Bias

博士论文研究：隐性种族偏见的社会根源

• 批准号: 1702829
• 负责人: Sandra Smith
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-04-01 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1702829&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Social; Roots

This project will explore how contact with diverse populations, and feelings of threat by such populations, influence implicit racial bias (IRB) against African Americans. IRB is an unconscious preference for one racial group over another. It influences behavior, even among people who are not aware of holding any such preference. IRB has been shown to negatively impact interactions between teachers and students, doctors and patients, and police officers and members of the public. Yet, one in five White Americans lacks IRB against African Americans. These individuals are relatively unlikely to contribute to harmful outcomes when they behave spontaneously. In past research, psychologists have identified individual level determinants for IRB (for example, personality and cognitive mechanisms). Scholars of psychology have also identified social factors that influence IRB (for example, age, level of education, and region of esidence). Yet, they have rarely, if at all, explored social factors in depth. Even though psychologists have indicated that IRB is at least partially socially determined, sociologists have generally stopped short of studying this kind of bias. For their part, sociologists have researched the determinants of explicit (that is, conscious and expressed) bias. They have identified a number of causes for such bias, including lack of contact with African Americans, and feelings of threat (either direct or symbolic) vis-à-vis Black populations. While this research offers clear insight into the determinants of explicit bias, it does not identify the determinants of implicit bias as such. Uncovering the social mechanisms that lead some to develop implicit racial bias, while others do not, could produce knowledge that ultimately helps to reduce the levels of this bias across the American public. Such a change would significantly improve the life chances of African Americans throughout the United States.This research will fill gaps left by the existing psychology literature (which has often left the social determinants of IRB unexplored) and sociology literature (which has focused only on the social determinants of explicit bias). Specifically, the project will explore how contact with diverse others (by race, socioeconomic status, and religion) and experiences of threat by such others influence anti-African American IRB among White Americans. Further bridging the psychology and sociology literatures on racial attitudes, the researchers will advance our currently cursory understanding of how implicit bias relates to contemporary forms of racism theorized that sociologists have theorized ("symbolic," "laissez-faire," and "colorblind" racism). The study will use an original dataset of Implicit Association Test scores, in depth interviews, and a survey to further current knowledge about the social determinants of implicit racial bias. First, 375 diverse White Americans will take the Race Implicit Association Test (the most common measure of IRB). Then, 30 respondents who hold anti-Black IRB and 30 who lack it will complete in depth interviews with race and gender matched interviewers. Finally, 800 new respondents will respond to the IAT and a survey designed to test hypotheses from the first two phases of research.

这个项目将探索与不同人群的接触以及这些人群的威胁感如何影响对非裔美国人的隐性种族偏见(IRB)。IRB是一种对一个种族群体的无意识偏爱。它会影响人们的行为，即使是在没有意识到持有任何此类偏好的人中也是如此。IRB已被证明对教师和学生、医生和病人以及警察和公众之间的互动产生了负面影响。然而，五分之一的美国白人缺乏针对非裔美国人的IRB。当这些人自发行为时，他们相对不太可能造成有害的结果。在过去的研究中，心理学家已经确定了IRB的个体水平决定因素(例如，个性和认知机制)。心理学学者也发现了影响IRB的社会因素(例如，年龄、教育水平和居住地区)。然而，他们很少(如果有的话)深入探讨社会因素。尽管心理学家已经指出，IRB至少在一定程度上是由社会决定的，但社会学家一般都没有研究这种偏见。就社会学家而言，他们研究了显性(即有意识的和表达的)偏见的决定因素。他们找出了这种偏见的一些原因，包括与非裔美国人缺乏接触，以及对黑人群体的威胁感(无论是直接的还是象征性的)。虽然这项研究对外显偏向的决定因素提供了明确的见解，但它并没有确定内隐偏向的决定因素。揭示导致一些人产生隐性种族偏见的社会机制，而另一些人则没有，可能会产生知识，最终有助于降低美国公众中这种偏见的水平。这样的改变将显著改善全美非裔美国人的生活机会。这项研究将填补现有心理学文献(经常没有探索IRB的社会决定因素)和社会学文献(只关注显性偏见的社会决定因素)留下的空白。具体地说，该项目将探索与不同的其他人(通过种族、社会经济地位和宗教)的接触以及这些人的威胁经历如何影响美国白人中的反非裔美国人IRB。进一步沟通心理学和社会学关于种族态度的文献，研究人员将推进我们目前对隐性偏见如何与当代形式的种族主义相关的粗略理解，这些形式是社会学家理论化的(“象征性的”、“放任自流的”和“色盲的”种族主义)。这项研究将使用内隐联想测试分数的原始数据集、深度访谈和调查，以进一步了解内隐种族偏见的社会决定因素。首先，375名不同种族的美国白人将参加种族隐性联想测试(IRB最常见的衡量标准)。然后，30名持有反黑人IRB的受访者和30名没有持有反黑人IRB的受访者将完成对种族和性别匹配的采访者的深入采访。最后，800名新受访者将对IAT和一项旨在检验前两个研究阶段的假设的调查做出回应。