Research Starter Grant: Understanding Interracial Interactions: How Situational Cues Influence Cognition, Affect, and Behavior During Intergroup Contact

智力上的功绩。五项实验研究测试了因果假设，即互动伙伴的友谊网络的多样性以及他们采用的目标如何向他们的伴侣发出身份威胁或身份安全的信号。这项研究考察了这些线索如何影响多数族裔和少数族裔个体在互动中的情感、认知和行为结果的中介机制。本研究考察了白人和少数族裔在种族间交往中对社会身份威胁体验的两个潜在影响：1)交往伙伴友谊的种族多样性(或同质性)；2)交往伙伴在交往环境中采取的目标(学习或表现)。这项研究测试了这种友谊暗示和伴侣采取的目标是否会影响少数民族和白人个体的互动体验。特别是，本研究测量了社会认同威胁、情感、互动过程中的行为、认知衰竭和因种族间互动而产生的满意度。此外，这项研究还测试了在互动环境中改变人们的目标是否可以减少身份威胁，从而为未来积极的种族间接触打开大门--即使在没有多样化的友谊网络的情况下也是如此。本研究从种族间互动的关系视角，从多数群体成员和少数群体成员两个角度考察了友谊和目标影响身份威胁体验及其情感、认知和行为结果的过程。这项研究对现有的种族间互动和社会认同威胁的研究做出了新的理论贡献，并为未来如何构建种族间互动以减少身份威胁、促进少数群体和多数群体成员的顺利交流和更多享受提供了实践指导。这项美国国家科学基金会的研究初学者拨款允许PI继续并扩展她在跨种族互动背景下情景线索和身份偶发的影响方面的博士后工作。这项工作对身份威胁理论做出了贡献，并对线索影响种族间互动的动态过程有了更好的理解。PI将作为学生的榜样和导师，让他们有兴趣从严谨、科学的角度审视这些重要的社会问题。目前，国际学生联合会在她位于芝加哥的伊利诺伊大学的实验室里与一个由不同种族的研究生和本科生组成的团队合作，这笔资金帮助国际青年联合会获得必要的资源，包括研究生的支持，以开始一个关于这个主题的独立研究项目。

Intellectual Merit. Five experimental studies test causal hypotheses about how the diversity of an interaction partner's friendship network and the goals that they adopt signal identity threat or identity safety to their partner. The research examines the mediating mechanisms for how these cues influence affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes of both the racial majority and minority individual in the interaction. The research investigates two potential influences on the experiences of social identity threat among whites and ethnic minorities during interracial interaction: 1) the racial diversity (or homogeneity) of an interaction partner's friendships, and 2) the goals (learning or performance) that the partner adopts for the interaction context. The research tests whether this friendship cue and the goals adopted by one's partner influence ethnic minority and white individuals' interaction experiences. In particular, this research measures levels of social identity threat, affect, behavior during the interactions, cognitive depletion, and satisfaction resulting from the interracial interactions. Furthermore, this research tests whether shifts in people's goals within the interaction context can reduce identity threat, opening the door for positive interracial contact in the future-even in the absence of a diverse friendship network. Taking a relational view of interracial interactions, the research examines the processes by which friendships and goals influence experiences of identity threat and its affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes from the perspectives of both majority and minority group members.Broader Impacts. The research makes novel theoretical contributions to the existing literature on interracial interactions and social identity threat, as well as provides practical guidance about how interracial interactions might be structured to reduce identity threat and facilitate smooth exchange and more enjoyment for both minority and majority group members in the future. This NSF Research Starter Grant allows the PI to continue and extend her postdoctoral work on the effects of situational cues and identity contingencies in the context of interracial interactions. This work contributes to identity threat theory and provides a better understanding of the processes by which cues affect the dynamics of interracial interactions. The PI will serve as a role model and mentor to students interested in examining these important societal issues from a rigorous, scientific perspective. Currently, the PI works with a racially diverse team of graduate and undergraduate students in her lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and this funding aids the PI in obtaining the necessary resources, including graduate student support, to begin an independent research program on this topic.