Gateway Groups and Intergroup Relations

全球化和国家和社区的族裔和种族构成发生了前所未有的变化，使我们与之交往的人的范围大大增加。这些变化导致了一个新的、更复杂的社会格局。它增加了与具有多种社会身份的人的接触，包括种族、民族或国家身份的不同组合。尽管人们经常受到差异的威胁，但这个项目考虑了这种差异如何有助于创造积极的社会变化和不同社会群体成员之间更大的和谐。这项研究的重点是那些被认为具有多种身份的人的独特作用，这些身份代表了传统上被视为根本不同的群体。例子包括在美国与黑人和白人共享身份的美国混血儿，或者在中东与以色列人和巴勒斯坦人共享身份的以色列阿拉伯公民。这种独特的社会认同形式将这些群体的成员置于通常被视为对立的社会类别之间，允许这些个人潜在地充当促进群体之间积极交流的社交门户。这一项目的广泛目标是调查这类网关小组在积极转变小组间关系方面可能发挥的潜在作用。它提供了一个新颖的框架，捕捉到了社会边界和社会身份的现代复杂性。一些研究探讨了在包括长期冲突中的群体在内的各种社会背景下实现门户群体潜力所需的机制和边界条件。这项研究具体应用了在实验室研究中开发的心理干预措施，以减少群体间的紧张和冲突，并在与社会直接相关的情况下促进和解。五个实验侧重于确定网关组影响的潜在过程以及它们或多或少有效的条件。这些实验的洞察力随后在另外三项研究中得到验证，以评估Gateway小组在自然主义环境中改善群体间关系的潜力。从理论上讲，这种方法超越了常见的“我们”和“他们”的二元观点，提供了一个更广泛、更准确的群体间动态模型。实际上，这项研究旨在开发可普遍应用的干预措施，以减少群体间冲突，促进群体之间更和谐和更有成效的关系。这一奖项反映了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。

Globalization and unprecedented shifts in the ethnic and racial make-up of countries and communities have produced a massive growth in the range of people with whom we interact. These changes have led to a new and more complex social landscape. It has increased encounters with people who have multiple social identities, including different combinations of racial, ethnic, or national identities. Although people are often threatened by difference, this project considers how such differences may help to create positive social change and greater harmony among members of various social groups. The research focuses on the unique role of people who are recognized as having multiple identities that represent groups traditionally regarded as fundamentally different. Examples include American biracial individuals who share their identity with both Blacks and Whites in the U.S., or Arab citizens of Israel who share their identity with both Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East. This unique form of social identity places members of these groups in-between social categories that are typically seen in oppositional ways, allowing these individuals to potentially act as a social gateway to promote positive exchanges between the groups. These kinds of groups are therefore termed "Gateway Groups".The broad objective of this project is to investigate the potential role that such Gateway Groups might play in positively transforming intergroup relations. It provides a novel framework that captures the modern complexity of social boundaries and social identity. Several studies explore the mechanisms and boundary conditions necessary to realize the potential of Gateway Groups in a wide range of social contexts including groups in long-term conflict. The research specifically applies psychological interventions developed in laboratory-based research to reduce intergroup tension and conflict and to promote reconciliation in contexts of immediate social relevance. Five experiments focus on identifying the processes underlying the influence of Gateway Groups and the conditions under which they are more or less effective. The insights from those experiments are then tested in three other studies to assess the potential of Gateway Groups to improve intergroup relations in naturalistic settings. Theoretically, this approach moves beyond the common binary view of "us" versus "them" to offer a broader and more accurate model of intergroup dynamics. Practically, the research aims to develop interventions that can be applied generally to reduce intergroup conflict and promote more harmonious and productive relations between groups.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.