Doctoral Dissertation Research: Anxiety and Ethnocentrism: Coalitional Psychology in Two Populations

[242186] fessler / navarrete一名人类学研究生的论文研究提出：“文化如何与产生种族中心主义的内在心理机制相互作用？”以及“为什么在危险时刻，对群体内意识形态的坚持会增加？”这个项目试图解释为什么人们坚持并顽强地捍卫他们的世界观。它检验了这样一个命题，即合作企业的包容性是以可预测性为前提的，而可预测性是文化价值观共性的一种功能，因此，种族中心主义的表现无异于广告，旨在在需要时从群体内成员那里获得联盟支持。研究将在两个地区进行，南加州城市和哥斯达黎加农村。这些文化在个人主义/集体主义的维度上有所不同，这一因素预计会影响不同形式威胁的显著性。调查将结合定性人种学方法和控制心理学实验，探索文化、意识形态和个性的个体差异如何影响人们在威胁或社会冲突时如何评估群体内和群体外。更广泛的影响：9/11恐怖袭击以及过去十年的许多种族灭绝战争都围绕着世界观的差异，这种差异表现为暴力的种族中心主义。通过阐明产生种族中心主义的心理机制和加剧种族中心主义的文化因素，本项目可以为外交官、政策制定者和国防分析家提供更坚实的基础，在此基础上做出决策，努力避免、改善或结束源于文化差异的暴力冲突。

0242186Fessler / NavarreteThis dissertation research by an anthropology graduate student asks: 'How does culture interact with the innate psychological mechanisms that produce ethnocentrism?', and 'Why does adherence to in-group ideology increase in times of danger?' The project seeks to explain why people adhere to and tenaciously defend their worldviews. It tests the proposition that inclusion in cooperative ventures is premised on predictability, and predictability is a function of commonality in cultural values, therefore displays of ethnocentrism are tantamount to advertisements intended to recruit coalitional support from in-group members in times of need. Research will be conducted in two regions, urban Southern California and rural Costa Rica. These cultures differ along the dimension of individualism/collectivism, a factor predicted to influence the salience of different forms of threat. Investigations will combine qualitative ethnographic approaches with controlled psychological experiments to explore how culture, ideology, and individual differences in personality affect how people evaluate in-groups and out-groups in times of threat or social conflict. Broader impacts: The terrorist attacks of 9/11 as well as many of the genocidal wars of the last decade revolve around differences in worldviews, which manifest as violent ethnocentrism. By elucidating the psychological mechanisms that generate ethnocentrism and the cultural factors that exacerbate it, this project may provide diplomats, policy makers, and defense analysts with a firmer foundation on which to make decisions in the effort to avoid, ameliorate, or end violent conflicts that stem from cultural differences.