A social psychological study on the influence of academic identity upon feelings toward outgroup persons.

本研究以日本大学为对象，探讨了不满的学术身份如何影响对学术外群体的感情。本研究假设，对自己的大学缺乏信心的学生受到不满意的学术社会身份的威胁，因此，他们有动机离开自己的大学，搬到其他地位更高的大学来提升自己。它同时导致了对内群体成员的不利看法和对上级外群体成员的有利看法。同时，他们需要贬低其他地位较低的大学，并为自己的自我拯救而证明现状，因为他们想进入地位较高的大学的愿望在现实中很难实现。本研究进行了几个实证研究，并为假设提供了一些支持数据：第一，一所中等水平国立大学的学生普遍表现出群体内贬损的倾向。当一个人的学术身份变得突出时，这种倾向就会缓和。第二，低认同大学的学生对内群体地位威胁的反应尤为强烈;在面对威胁时，他们更倾向于贬低劣等大学的学生，而支持上级大学的学生。第三，大学认同感高的学生对其他大学总体上表现出良好的评价，而且与认同感低的学生相比，他们更倾向于以良好的方式评价上级大学的人的积极行为。最后，这些现象也与日本学术文凭主义的合法性和持续性有关。2总体结果表明，不满的社会身份会使人们对群体外的人产生歧视行为。

The present research investigates how disaffected academic identity influences feelings toward academic out-group persons, using Japanese universities as target groups. It is hypothesized that students with a lack of faith in their own university are threatened by their unsatisfactory academic social identity ; therefore, they are motivated to leave their own university and move to other higher-status universities to elevate themselves. It simultaneously leads to both an unfavorable view of in-group members and a favorable view of superior out-group members. At the same time, they need to derogate other lower-status universities and justify the status quo for their self-salvage, because a desire to move to a higher-status university is difficult to achieve in reality.Several empirical studies are carried out, and some supporting data for the hypothesis is provided.First, students of a middle-level national university show a general tendency of in-group derogation. When ones' academic identity becomes salient, this tendency is moderated. However, they simultaneously exhibit a stronger tendency for out-group derogation toward an inferior university.Second, students low in identification with their own university are particularly responsive to threats to in-group status ; they are more likely to derogate students of an inferior university and to support those of a superior university in the face of threat.Third, students high in identification with their university tend to show a favorable view of other universities in general, and moreover they are more likely to evaluate positive behaviors of a person of a superior university in a favorable manner compared with those low in identification.Finally, these phenomena are also closely related to beliefs concerning the legitimacy and persistence of academic credentialism in Japan.The overall results suggest that disaffected social identity will make people behave in a discriminatory way toward out-group persons.