Experimental Evidence on Stress and In-group Preference

对于非洲内外的政策制定者来说，了解严重的压力是否会导致更强的群体偏好是很重要的。这项研究项目提供了证据，表明如果一个社会经历了严重的压力因素，如经济、社会或环境冲击，种族紧张局势是否可能加剧。例如自然灾害、干旱、政治冲突、骚乱和抗议。这些发现对于更好地理解群体的重要性也很重要，群体是人类行为的一个基本方面。新的知识对于帮助各国政府了解如何在面临加剧严重压力的宏观经济冲击时最好地缓解群体间冲突也很重要。该研究项目旨在更好地了解非洲背景下种族偏好的决定因素；具体地说，它们如何受到严重压力的影响。据推测，在高度紧张的时期，群体偏好可能会变得更强。这项研究通过检查向实验参与者提供氢化可的松药丸引起的急性应激的后果来检验这一点。对于随机选择的治疗组，研究人员通过对其生理前体氢化可的松进行药理作用，直接增加应激激素皮质醇的水平。随机选择的控制组接受一种看起来相同的安慰剂药片。然后，在这两种情况下的参与者都会进行标准的行为游戏，测试是否有更大的信任、可信度、利他主义或对同族人的慷慨。通过比较处于压力状态的人和处于对照状态的人的行为，研究小组可以评估在高度压力的情况下是否会出现更强烈的同族偏好。该实验的结构还允许研究团队测试严重压力是否会影响其他形式的群体内偏好，如同龄或同性别偏好。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。

Knowing whether acute stress results in stronger in-group preference is important for policymakers inside and outside of Africa. This research project provides evidence for whether ethnic tensions are likely to be heightened if a society experiences acute stressors, such as economic, social, or environmental shocks. Examples of these might be natural disasters, droughts, political conflicts, riots, and protests. These findings are also important for a better understanding of the importance of groups, which are a fundamental aspect of human behavior. The new knowledge should also be important for helping governments understand how best to alleviate inter-group conflict in the face of macroeconomic shocks that increase acute stress. The research project aims to better understand the determinants of ethnic preferences within the African context; specifically, how they are affected by acute stress. It is hypothesized that in-group preferences might become stronger during times of heightened stress. The study tests this by examining the consequences of acute stress induced by the provision of hydrocortisone pills to experiment participants. For a randomly chosen treatment group, the researchers directly increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol by pharmacologically administering its physiological precursor, hydrocortisone. A randomly chosen control group receives an identical-looking placebo pill. Participants in both conditions then undertake standard behavioral games that test whether there is greater trust, trustworthiness, altruism, or generosity towards coethnics. By comparing the behaviors of those in the stress condition versus those in the control condition the research team can assess whether stronger coethnic preferences arise during episodes of heightened stress. The structure of the experiment also allows the research team to test whether acute stress affects other forms of in-group preferences such as own-age or own-gender preference.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.