A Model of Escalation in Social Exchange

这个研究项目涉及冲突的升级。小的侮辱可能导致更大的侮辱，从小事件升级到大悲剧。例如，在90年代，东海岸和西海岸嘻哈界之间的竞争始于一首“diss track”，这首歌贬低了来自另一个“场景”的说唱歌手，并在90年代末升级为几起未解决的谋杀案。离婚父母之间的子女监护权纠纷往往升级为重大的法律纠纷，给孩子造成精神创伤，耗尽双方的经济资源，损害他们的身心健康。社会交流的升级是常见的，也是许多人际、群体间和国际冲突的核心。它不仅通过个人和群体之间的直接侵略和暴力行为，而且还通过它所造成的生理痛苦，对社会成员的身心健康构成重大威胁。本研究项目有两大目标：首先，该项目致力于了解负面升级背后的心理原因，加剧负面升级的因素以及培育这种升级的情况。其次，该项目将利用对冲突升级原因的更深入了解来确定防止和化解冲突升级的新方法。该项目发展了一种社会行动理论，解释了为什么负面交换会升级。它假设行动者和反应者对同一行动的系统理解不同，这种差异直接导致升级。该理论还提出了打破负面升级的恶性循环的新方法。研究人员将通过8个实验来验证这一理论，每个实验都应该提供关于如何化解升级的不同见解。这个研究项目有望给社会带来巨大的利益。社会关系的质量对身心健康至关重要，不断升级的冲突是主要的社会压力源。升级发生在社会组织的各个层面，从个人到国际侵略行为，都是对感知到的冒犯的反应。因此，该研究项目可能会产生重大的科学影响，并对个人和社会的福利产生重大影响。

This research project concerns the escalation of conflict. Small insults can lead to larger insults, escalating back and forth from minor events into major tragedies. In the nineties, for instance, rivalry between the East-Coast and West-Coast hip hop scenes started with a "diss track," a song that disparaged rappers from the other "scene," and escalated by the end of the decade to several unsolved murders. Child-custody disagreements between divorcing parents often escalate to major legal battles that traumatize the children, deplete the financial resources of the parties, and damage their mental and physical health. Escalation in social exchange is common and central to many interpersonal, intergroup, and international conflicts. It also presents a significant physical and mental health risk to members of society, not only by the direct acts of aggression and violence between individuals and groups, but also by the physiological distress it creates. This research project has two broad goals: First, the project is dedicated to understanding the psychological causes behind negative escalation, the factors that exacerbate it and the situations that nurture such escalation. Second, the project will use the deeper understanding of the causes of escalation to identify novel ways to prevent and defuse conflict escalation. The project develops a theory of social action that explains why negative exchange escalates. It assumes that actors and reactors perceive the same action systematically differently, and that this difference leads directly to escalation. The theory also suggests novel ways that the vicious cycle of negative escalation could be broken. The researchers will test the theory in eight experiments, each of which should provide different insights about way to defuse escalation. This research project promises substantial benefits to society. The quality of social relationships is central to physical and mental health, with escalating conflict serving as a major social stressor. Escalation occurs at all levels of social organization, from individuals to international acts of aggression in reaction to a perceived offense. The research project is therefore likely to have substantial scientific impact, as well as significant implications for the welfare of individuals and society.