Racism: Further Considerations from Psychological Science 心理科學(xué)對(duì)種族歧視的深度思考

丁占罡

Racism is undeniably a matter of concern across countries and cultures. In the United States， where slavery was abolished in 1865 and segregation outlawed in 1954， the effects of racism are still pervasive in everyday life. Here is a look at what psychological scientists have uncovered on the topic in recent years.

Systemic racism and implicit biases1

Racism is usually defined by individual psychological processes such as prejudice， stereotyping， or discrimination. But racism is not only ingrained in individual minds; it is also found at historical and cultural levels. Focusing on individual prejudice can obscure the role that institutional and cultural processes play in maintaining race-based hierarchies. In a 2018 article in Current Directions in Psychological Science， Phia S. Salter （Davidson College）， Glenn Adams （University of Kansas）， and Michael J. Perez （Texas A&M University） proposed a cultural-psychological approach to racism. They suggested that racism is reproduced in everyday environments that afford2， promote， and maintain racist processes. People shape and maintain these racist processes through their preferences and actions. For example， people might select some representations of the past， shaping history and intervening in collective memory in a way that serves racism. This interplay between individuals and culture makes it more difficult to dismantle racism. According to Salter and colleagues3， racism cannot be dismantled by solely changing peoples individual biases because aspects of our everyday worlds support those biases.

In Psychological Science， Heidi A. Vuletich and APS4 Fellow Keith Payne （University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill） analyzed individual biases and found that rather than being a property of individuals， implicit bias might be a property of social contexts， and that changing the social context （e.g.， by increasing faculty diversity or removing Confederate monuments5 from campuses） may more effectively reduce bias than changing individual attitudes. In Vuletich and Paynes reanalysis of a previous study of 18 university campuses before and after a racial bias intervention， the researchers found that individual attitudes varied randomly across time and that campus characteristics such as low faculty diversity predicted high bias. This indicates that the stability of bias may reflect stable environments rather than persistent individual biases. Moreover， campuses characteristics that reflect historical and current inequalities， such as low faculty diversity， low social mobility （percentage of students whose parents had moved up from the poorest income quintile6）， and display of Confederate monuments predicted high bias.

Consequences of racism

Racisms consequences are both physical and psychological. In Perspectives on Psychological Science， Antoinette M. Landor （University of Missouri） and Shardé McNeil Smith （University of Illinois） proposed that assaults resulting from an individuals skin tone7 may result in traumatic stress reactions and health and interpersonal outcomes （e.g.， low self-esteem， hypertension， risky sexual behavior）. Moreover， African Americans score worse than individuals with other racial backgrounds on most major physical health indicators， such as coronary heart disease， stroke， cancer， and HIV.

Racism also results in economic and legal inequalities. For example， Rebecca C. Hetey and APS Fellow Jennifer L. Eberhardt （Stanford University） reported that there is plenty of evidence for racial disparities in the criminal justice system， where Blacks are much more likely to be punished than Whites. Michael W. Kraus， Ivuoma N. Onyeador， Natalie M. Daumeyer， Julian M. Rucker， and APS Fellow Jennifer A. Richeson （Yale University） suggested in Perspectives on Psychological Science that Americans vastly underestimate current racial economic inequality， especially the racial wealth gap. When the researchers compared participants estimates of economic disparities between White and Black families with actual economic data collected by the U.S. government， they found that participants underestimated the racial wealth gap in 1963 by 40% and the racial wealth gap in 2016 by 80%. Kraus and colleagues argued that these underestimates of inequality are driven， in part， by the salience8 of exemplars9 that bolster the belief that oppression has been overcome （e.g.， Oprah Winfrey） and by motivations to perceive society as fair and economic status dependent only on merit.

Ways to combat racism

Reminding the public of dispar-ities between the treatment of Blacks and Whites might not be the best approach to combat racism. For example， in Current Directions in Psychological Science， Rebecca C. Hetey and APS Fellow Jennifer L. Eberhardt suggested that reminders about how Blacks are more likely to be punished by the crim-inal justice system than Whites may trigger fear and increase stereotypical associations between Blacks and crime， increasing biases and support for the policies that created the disparities. Instead， they suggest presenting data on racial disparities in a way that emphasizes that they are not natural， but rather the result of institutions that perpetuate10 structural and sociocultural forms of racism.

Multiple researchers have investigated how contact with diversity should be managed to effectively combat ra-cism. Maureen A. Craig （New York University）， Rucker， and Richeson proposed a framework to explain emerging data on how increases in racial diversity affect relationships among racial groups. In this framework， anticipated increases in diversity increase the perceived size of minority groups. Perceiving the minority group as larger can lead to an intensification of perceived threat to the dominant groups position in society and culture. Increases in perceived threat， in turn， impact the relationships among the racial groups， leading to augmented bias， prejudice， discrimination， and support for anti-immigrant policies. But these negative outcomes can be attenuated11 if increases in diversity are accompanied by positive individual experiences across racial groups. Positive contact with members of different racial groups， especially when individuals share equal status and common goals， can reduce perceptions of threat and， consequently， biased attitudes and behaviors. Increased diversity can increase opportunities for positive contact， but individual factors such as racial identification or beliefs about? stereotypes will also influence whether and the extent to which positive contact can reduce perceived threat.

Regarding perceptions of economic equality， Kraus and colleagues suggested that， besides actually increasing economic equality， providing information about the actual state of racial economic disparities and evidence regarding the progress that has been made （or not） may help to reduce peoples misperceptions of racial equality. Kraus and colleagues added that understanding the pattern of racial economic inequality may help to understand racism in the context of the societal structures that maintain racial advantages and disadvantages.

Recently， Mitchell R. Campbell and Markus Brauer （University of Wisconsin-Madison） suggested in Perspectives on Psychological Science that using principles from social marketing in prejudice research might help to minimize the existing gap between what we know about prejudice and the real-world methods to reduce it， which often fail. Social marketing is mainly concerned with changing behaviors; rather than identifying general principles in human behavior， it is problem-based and addresses specific behaviors in specific contexts. Campbell and Brauer advocated for the combined use of theory-based and problem-based principles to provide additional tools to help practitioners reduce prejudice and advance theory.

毋庸置疑，種族歧視是各個(gè)國(guó)家、各種文化都關(guān)注的問(wèn)題。美國(guó)1865年廢除了奴隸制，1954年取締種族隔離，但種族歧視的影響仍見(jiàn)于日常生活的方方面面。本文介紹心理學(xué)家近年來(lái)在這一問(wèn)題上的發(fā)現(xiàn)。

系統(tǒng)性種族歧視與內(nèi)隱偏見(jiàn)

按照常規(guī)定義，種族歧視表現(xiàn)為一種個(gè)體的心理過(guò)程，比如成見(jiàn)、刻板印象或區(qū)別對(duì)待等。然而，種族歧視不僅植根于個(gè)體頭腦中，它還存在于歷史和文化層面。僅關(guān)注個(gè)體成見(jiàn)會(huì)掩蓋制度和文化過(guò)程在維護(hù)基于種族的等級(jí)制度上所起的作用。2018年，菲婭·S. 索爾特（戴維森學(xué)院）、格倫·亞當(dāng)斯（堪薩斯大學(xué)）和邁克爾·J. 佩雷斯（得克薩斯農(nóng)機(jī)大學(xué)）在《最新心理科學(xué)指南》雜志上發(fā)表論文，從文化心理學(xué)視角探討種族歧視問(wèn)題。他們認(rèn)為，種族歧視在造就、推動(dòng)、維持種族歧視過(guò)程的日常環(huán)境中繁衍。人們通過(guò)各自的偏好與行動(dòng)塑造并維持這些歧視過(guò)程。比如，人們可能會(huì)選取一些過(guò)往的代表性事件，以有利于種族歧視的方式塑造歷史、干預(yù)集體記憶。這種個(gè)體與文化間的相互作用使得消除種族歧視變得更為困難。按照索爾特及兩位共同作者的觀(guān)點(diǎn)，僅靠改變?nèi)藗兊膫€(gè)體偏見(jiàn)無(wú)法消除種族歧視，因?yàn)槲覀內(nèi)粘Ｉ畹母鱾€(gè)層面都在助長(zhǎng)著那些偏見(jiàn)。

海迪·A. 武萊蒂奇和心理學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)士基思·佩恩（北卡羅來(lái)納大學(xué)教堂山分校）在《心理學(xué)》雜志撰文分析了個(gè)體偏見(jiàn)，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)內(nèi)隱偏見(jiàn)并非個(gè)體屬性，而可能是一種社會(huì)環(huán)境屬性，且與改變個(gè)體態(tài)度相比，改變社會(huì)環(huán)境（比如，提升教職員工多樣性或從校園中移除南方邦聯(lián)紀(jì)念碑）可以更為有效地減輕偏見(jiàn)。此前有一項(xiàng)關(guān)于種族偏見(jiàn)干預(yù)前后的18所大學(xué)校園的研究，武萊蒂奇和佩恩對(duì)其進(jìn)行重新分析后發(fā)現(xiàn)，個(gè)體態(tài)度會(huì)因時(shí)間而異，且教職員工多樣性低這樣的校園特征預(yù)示著存在嚴(yán)重偏見(jiàn)。這表明，偏見(jiàn)的穩(wěn)定性可能反映的是穩(wěn)定的環(huán)境，而不是持續(xù)存在的個(gè)體偏見(jiàn)。此外，反映歷史和現(xiàn)時(shí)不平等的校園特征，比如教職員工多樣性低、社會(huì)流動(dòng)性（父母收入從最低五分位向上提升的學(xué)生比例）低、建有南方邦聯(lián)紀(jì)念碑等，預(yù)示著存在嚴(yán)重偏見(jiàn)。

種族歧視的影響

種族歧視的影響既表現(xiàn)在身體層面，也表現(xiàn)在心理層面。安托瓦妮特·M. 蘭多爾（密蘇里大學(xué)）和沙爾德·麥克尼爾·史密斯（伊利諾伊大學(xué)）在《心理學(xué)展望》雜志上撰文指出，一個(gè)人因膚色招致的攻擊可導(dǎo)致創(chuàng)傷性應(yīng)激反應(yīng)以及健康和人際關(guān)系后果（比如自卑、過(guò)度緊張、危險(xiǎn)的性行為等）。此外，與其他種族背景的人相比，非洲裔美國(guó)人在冠心病、中風(fēng)、癌癥、艾滋病等多數(shù)主要身體健康指標(biāo)上得分更低。

種族歧視也會(huì)造成經(jīng)濟(jì)及法律上的不平等。例如，麗貝卡·C. 海泰伊和心理學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)士珍妮弗·L. 埃伯哈特（斯坦福大學(xué)）認(rèn)為，有大量證據(jù)表明刑事司法系統(tǒng)內(nèi)存在種族差異，黑人比白人更有可能遭受懲罰。邁克爾·W. 克勞斯、伊沃瑪·N. 奧尼亞多爾、納塔莉·M. 多梅耶爾、朱利安·M. 拉克以及心理學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)士珍妮弗·A. 里奇森（耶魯大學(xué)）在《心理學(xué)展望》雜志上撰文指出，美國(guó)人大大低估了現(xiàn)時(shí)種族間的經(jīng)濟(jì)不平等，尤其是種族間的財(cái)富差距。研究人員曾讓受訪(fǎng)對(duì)象估算白人家庭和黑人家庭之間的經(jīng)濟(jì)差異，并將估算值與美國(guó)政府收集的實(shí)際經(jīng)濟(jì)數(shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行對(duì)比，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)，受訪(fǎng)對(duì)象對(duì)1963年種族間財(cái)富差距低估了40%，對(duì)2016年種族間財(cái)富差距低估高達(dá)80%?？藙谒辜皫孜还餐髡咧赋?，受訪(fǎng)對(duì)象低估了不平等，這在一定程度上是因?yàn)樽屍鋱?jiān)信壓迫已不復(fù)存在的事例（如奧普拉·溫弗瑞）凸現(xiàn)于世，同時(shí)也是因?yàn)樗麄兪艿郊?lì)，認(rèn)為社會(huì)是公平的，經(jīng)濟(jì)地位僅僅取決于個(gè)人才能。

怎樣減少種族歧視

提醒人們黑人與白人之間存在待遇差異，也許并不是減少種族歧視的最佳方式。例如，麗貝卡·C. 海泰伊和心理學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)士珍妮弗·L. 埃伯哈特在《最新心理科學(xué)指南》雜志上撰文指出，黑人如何比白人更可能遭受刑事司法制度的懲罰這樣的提示信息會(huì)引發(fā)恐懼，使人們更多地出于刻板印象在黑人與犯罪之間產(chǎn)生聯(lián)想，從而加劇偏見(jiàn)，為造成這種差異的政策提供更多助力。他們建議以如下方式展示種族差異的相關(guān)數(shù)據(jù)：強(qiáng)調(diào)種族差異并非與生俱來(lái)，而是使種族歧視的結(jié)構(gòu)形式與社會(huì)文化形式得以延續(xù)的制度帶來(lái)的。

多位研究人員調(diào)查了如何掌握人際接觸多樣性以便富有成效地減少種族歧視。莫琳·A. 克雷格（紐約大學(xué)）、拉克和里奇森提出了一個(gè)框架，用來(lái)解釋有關(guān)增強(qiáng)種族多樣性影響不同族群間關(guān)系的新數(shù)據(jù)。在該框架中，預(yù)期多樣性增強(qiáng)會(huì)擴(kuò)大人們感覺(jué)中的少數(shù)族群規(guī)模，而人們感覺(jué)到的少數(shù)族群規(guī)模變大會(huì)使主導(dǎo)族群在社會(huì)、文化地位方面所感受到的威脅加劇。感受到的威脅增強(qiáng)進(jìn)而又會(huì)影響不同族群間的關(guān)系，致使偏見(jiàn)、成見(jiàn)、區(qū)別對(duì)待激化，反移民政策得到進(jìn)一步支持。然而，如果在增強(qiáng)多樣性的同時(shí)加入不同族群間積極的個(gè)體經(jīng)驗(yàn)，這些消極后果就可以減少。與不同族群的成員積極接觸，尤其是在不同個(gè)體擁有平等地位和共同目標(biāo)的情況下進(jìn)行接觸，能夠減輕感受到的威脅，由此，帶有偏見(jiàn)的態(tài)度和行為也會(huì)減少。增強(qiáng)多樣性能夠增加積極接觸的機(jī)會(huì)，但是種族認(rèn)同和有關(guān)刻板印象的看法等個(gè)體因素，也會(huì)對(duì)積極接觸能否以及在多大程度上減輕感受到的威脅產(chǎn)生影響。

關(guān)于經(jīng)濟(jì)平等，克勞斯及幾位共同作者認(rèn)為，除了實(shí)際上增進(jìn)經(jīng)濟(jì)平等以外，提供有關(guān)種族經(jīng)濟(jì)差異實(shí)際狀況的信息和已經(jīng)取得（或未取得）的相關(guān)進(jìn)展的證據(jù)，或可有助于減少人們對(duì)種族平等的誤解?？藙谒辜皫孜还餐髡哌€指出，理解種族經(jīng)濟(jì)不平等的模式，也許有助于人們結(jié)合使種族優(yōu)勢(shì)和劣勢(shì)得以維持的社會(huì)結(jié)構(gòu)背景來(lái)理解種族歧視。

前不久，米切爾·R. 坎貝爾和馬庫(kù)斯·布勞爾（威斯康星大學(xué)麥迪遜分校）在《心理學(xué)展望》雜志上撰文指出，我們對(duì)成見(jiàn)的了解與現(xiàn)實(shí)世界為減少成見(jiàn)而采取的辦法（這些辦法往往無(wú)果而終）之間存在缺口。把社會(huì)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)原理用于成見(jiàn)研究，可有助于縮小這一缺口。社會(huì)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)主要涉及改變行為，它并非要明確人類(lèi)行為的一般原理，而是以問(wèn)題為基礎(chǔ)，針對(duì)特定背景下的特定行為?？藏悹柡筒紕跔柍珜?dǎo)將基于理論的原理和基于問(wèn)題的原理合而用之，向?qū)I(yè)工作者提供更多手段，幫助他們減少成見(jiàn)、提出理論。

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)?單位：中華女子學(xué)院）