SBP: Evaluating the Causal Role of Inflammation in Social Prejudice

人们很难与他们认为与自己不同的人互动。新的理论模型表明，尽管人们拥有适应性行为策略来帮助他们避免来自潜在病原体来源的传染，但这些策略可以在负面的社会过程中表现出来，比如偏见。这项研究测试了一种假设，即能够激活这些疾病避免策略并导致人们更有偏见的一个因素是免疫系统激活。人们的免疫系统是通过反复经历来激活的，比如战胜疾病或应对压力源。这项研究通过实验诱导急性炎症，以测试免疫系统的活动是否会导致偏见反应。预计免疫系统被激活的试验组的人会比控制组的人对他人产生更多的偏见。更广泛地说，了解可能增加不同背景和观点的人之间冲突的因素，对于促进对社会上其他人的公平评价是必要的。这项研究采用了一种结合社会心理学和心理神经免疫学的跨学科方法，以检查人们的免疫系统是否会影响他们对周围其他人的看法和反应，特别是他们认为不同的人。这项研究通过使用疫苗对急性炎症进行实验操作，检查了炎症和偏见之间的因果联系。疫苗会在第二天产生更高的免疫系统活性。这项研究测试了一种假设，即炎症会导致对不同群体(移民、老年人、肥胖者和残疾人)更多的社会偏见。这项研究还测试了一种假设，即人们认为自己免受细菌威胁的信念可以在精神上阻止免疫系统激活可能导致的冲动偏见。因此，该项目将确定一个可能导致偏见和歧视的生物过程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

It can be difficult for people to interact with others who they perceive to be different than themselves. New theoretical models suggest that although people possess adaptive behavioral strategies to help them avoid contagion from potential sources of pathogens, these strategies can manifest in negative social processes such as prejudice. This research tests the hypothesis that one factor that can activate those disease avoidance strategies and lead people to be more biased is immune system activation. People’s immune systems are activated by recurring experiences like fighting off an illness or dealing with a stressor. This research experimentally induces acute inflammation to test if immune system activity leads to prejudicial responses. It is expected that people in the experimental group, for whom the immune system was activated, will produce more bias against others than people in the control group. More broadly, understanding the factors that can increase conflict between people from different backgrounds and perspectives is necessary to facilitate fair evaluations of others in society. This research adopts an inter-disciplinary approach combining social psychology with psychoneuroimmunology to examine whether people’s immune systems affect the way they view and react to others around them, especially others they perceive as different. This research examines the causal link between inflammation and prejudice by experimentally manipulating acute inflammation via the use of vaccines. Vaccines result in higher immune system activity on the next day. The research tests the hypothesis that inflammation results in more social biases against various groups (immigrants, elderly, people with obesity, people with a disability). The research also tests the hypothesis that people’s beliefs that they are protected from the threat of germs can mentally block the impulsive bias that may result from the immune system activation. This project will thus identify a biological process that can lead to prejudice and discrimination.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.