The Effects of Perceived Discrimination on Mental and Physical Health

这项研究探讨了对歧视的慢性和急性感知对心理和 生理应激反应人们普遍认为，感知到的歧视会对心理和社会产生负面影响。 和身体健康，但直接解决这个问题的研究很少。利用压力模型， 情绪，假设认为别人对自己有偏见是有压力的，并引发了一个 一系列消极的自我和他人相关的认知和情绪，反过来，启动一般的生理 应激反应（例如，血压反应，皮质醇升高）以及更具体的应激反应 与威胁相关联（例如，血管阻力）或愤怒（例如，心输出量）。这些生理 如果随着时间的推移反复发生反应，则会对健康产生不良影响（麦克尤恩，2000年）。也是 预测，弹性以及脆弱性可以发生在应对感知的歧视。10 提出实验设计（三次重复）以评估认知， 情感和生物（激素和心血管）对急性歧视相关事件的反应 在拉丁美洲人，非洲裔美国人和女性中。实验1检验了慢性或 情境诱导的偏见预期导致生理应激反应增加， 在评价模糊的群体间情况下的威胁。实验2-4测试了 暴露于负面的社会反馈和对愤怒和威胁相关压力的歧视的期望 应答实验5 - 6检查了明确的拒绝或选择的生理效应， 社会身份实验7-8考察了污名化的目标是如何被情境激活或长期持有的 偏见期望与非污名化伴侣的偏见水平相互作用，从而影响压力 自然发生的二元社会互动中的反应。实验9-10测试了以下假设： 性格乐观和被操纵的乐观增加了暴露于 偏见所有的实验都假设，对潜在歧视情况的生理反应是 形成的特点的情况和人，并测试假设，消极的认知和 情感反应介导对歧视相关应激源的生理反应。

This research examines the impact of chronic and acute perceptions of discrimination on psychological and physiological stress responses. Perceived discrimination is widely assumed to negatively affect both mental and physical health, but research directly addressing this issue is scarce. Drawing on models of stress and emotion, it is hypothesized thatperceiving others to be prejudiced against the self is stressful, and initiates a cascade of negative self-and other-related cognitions and emotions that in turn, initiate general physiological stress responses (e.g., blood pressure reactivity, elevated cortisol) as well as more specific stress responses associated with threat (e.g., vascular resistance) or anger (e.g., cardiac output). These physiological responses have adverse health implications if repeatedly experienced over time (McEwen, 2000). It is also predictd that resilience as well as vulnerability can occur in response to perceived discrimination. 10 experimental designs (with three replications) are proposed to assess the interrelationships among cognitive, affective, and biological (hormonal and cardiovascular) responses to acute discrimination-relevant events among Latino-Americans, African-Americans, and women. Experiment 1 tests the hypothesis that chronic or situationally induced expectations of prejudice lead to increased physiological stress responses and greater threat in evaluatively ambiguous intergroup situations. Experiments 2-4 test the independent effectsof exposure to negative social feedback and expectations of discrimination on anger and threat-related stress responses. Experiments 5 - 6 examine the physiological effects of clear rejection or selection based on social identity. Experiments 7-8 examine how a stigmatized target's situationally activated or chronically held prejudice expectations interact with the prejudice level of a nonstigmatized partner to influence stress responses in naturally occurring dyadic social interactions. Experiments 9-10 test the hypothesis that dispositional optimism and manipulated optimism increase resilience among individuals who are exposed to prejudice. All experiments assume that physiological reactions to potentially discriminatory situations are shaped by features of the situation and of the person, and test the hypothesis that negative cognitions and affective responses mediate physiological responses to discrimination-relevant stressors.