Racism: Further Considerations from Psychological Science 心理科学对种族歧视的深度思考

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，种族歧视是各个国家、各种文化都关注的问题。美国1865年废除了奴隶制，1954年取缔种族隔离，但种族歧视的影响仍见于日常生活的方方面面。本文介绍心理学家近年来在这一问题上的发现。

系统性种族歧视与内隐偏见

按照常规定义，种族歧视表现为一种个体的心理过程，比如成见、刻板印象或区别对待等。然而，种族歧视不仅植根于个体头脑中，它还存在于历史和文化层面。仅关注个体成见会掩盖制度和文化过程在维护基于种族的等级制度上所起的作用。2018年，菲娅·S. 索尔特（戴维森学院）、格伦·亚当斯（堪萨斯大学）和迈克尔·J. 佩雷斯（得克萨斯农机大学）在《最新心理科学指南》杂志上发表论文，从文化心理学视角探讨种族歧视问题。他们认为，种族歧视在造就、推动、维持种族歧视过程的日常环境中繁衍。人们通过各自的偏好与行动塑造并维持这些歧视过程。比如，人们可能会选取一些过往的代表性事件，以有利于种族歧视的方式塑造历史、干预集体记忆。这种个体与文化间的相互作用使得消除种族歧视变得更为困难。按照索尔特及两位共同作者的观点，仅靠改变人们的个体偏见无法消除种族歧视，因为我们日常生活的各个层面都在助长着那些偏见。

海迪·A. 武莱蒂奇和心理学会会士基思·佩恩（北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校）在《心理学》杂志撰文分析了个体偏见，他们发现内隐偏见并非个体属性，而可能是一种社会环境属性，且与改变个体态度相比，改变社会环境（比如，提升教职员工多样性或从校园中移除南方邦联纪念碑）可以更为有效地减轻偏见。此前有一项关于种族偏见干预前后的18所大学校园的研究，武莱蒂奇和佩恩对其进行重新分析后发现，个体态度会因时间而异，且教职员工多样性低这样的校园特征预示着存在严重偏见。这表明，偏见的稳定性可能反映的是稳定的环境，而不是持续存在的个体偏见。此外，反映历史和现时不平等的校园特征，比如教职员工多样性低、社会流动性（父母收入从最低五分位向上提升的学生比例）低、建有南方邦联纪念碑等，预示着存在严重偏见。

种族歧视的影响

种族歧视的影响既表现在身体层面，也表现在心理層面。安托瓦妮特·M. 兰多尔（密苏里大学）和沙尔德·麦克尼尔·史密斯（伊利诺伊大学）在《心理学展望》杂志上撰文指出，一个人因肤色招致的攻击可导致创伤性应激反应以及健康和人际关系后果（比如自卑、过度紧张、危险的性行为等）。此外，与其他种族背景的人相比，非洲裔美国人在冠心病、中风、癌症、艾滋病等多数主要身体健康指标上得分更低。

种族歧视也会造成经济及法律上的不平等。例如，丽贝卡·C. 海泰伊和心理学会会士珍妮弗·L. 埃伯哈特（斯坦福大学）认为，有大量证据表明刑事司法系统内存在种族差异，黑人比白人更有可能遭受惩罚。迈克尔·W. 克劳斯、伊沃玛·N. 奥尼亚多尔、纳塔莉·M. 多梅耶尔、朱利安·M. 拉克以及心理学会会士珍妮弗·A. 里奇森（耶鲁大学）在《心理学展望》杂志上撰文指出，美国人大大低估了现时种族间的经济不平等，尤其是种族间的财富差距。研究人员曾让受访对象估算白人家庭和黑人家庭之间的经济差异，并将估算值与美国政府收集的实际经济数据进行对比，结果发现，受访对象对1963年种族间财富差距低估了40%，对2016年种族间财富差距低估高达80%。克劳斯及几位共同作者指出，受访对象低估了不平等，这在一定程度上是因为让其坚信压迫已不复存在的事例（如奥普拉·温弗瑞）凸现于世，同时也是因为他们受到激励，认为社会是公平的，经济地位仅仅取决于个人才能。

怎样减少种族歧视

提醒人们黑人与白人之间存在待遇差异，也许并不是减少种族歧视的最佳方式。例如，丽贝卡·C. 海泰伊和心理学会会士珍妮弗·L. 埃伯哈特在《最新心理科学指南》杂志上撰文指出，黑人如何比白人更可能遭受刑事司法制度的惩罚这样的提示信息会引发恐惧，使人们更多地出于刻板印象在黑人与犯罪之间产生联想，从而加剧偏见，为造成这种差异的政策提供更多助力。他们建议以如下方式展示种族差异的相关数据：强调种族差异并非与生俱来，而是使种族歧视的结构形式与社会文化形式得以延续的制度带来的。

多位研究人员调查了如何掌握人际接触多样性以便富有成效地减少种族歧视。莫琳·A. 克雷格（纽约大学）、拉克和里奇森提出了一个框架，用来解释有关增强种族多样性影响不同族群间关系的新数据。在该框架中，预期多样性增强会扩大人们感觉中的少数族群规模，而人们感觉到的少数族群规模变大会使主导族群在社会、文化地位方面所感受到的威胁加剧。感受到的威胁增强进而又会影响不同族群间的关系，致使偏见、成见、区别对待激化，反移民政策得到进一步支持。然而，如果在增强多样性的同时加入不同族群间积极的个体经验，这些消极后果就可以减少。与不同族群的成员积极接触，尤其是在不同个体拥有平等地位和共同目标的情况下进行接触，能够减轻感受到的威胁，由此，带有偏见的态度和行为也会减少。增强多样性能够增加积极接触的机会，但是种族认同和有关刻板印象的看法等个体因素，也会对积极接触能否以及在多大程度上减轻感受到的威胁产生影响。

关于经济平等，克劳斯及几位共同作者认为，除了实际上增进经济平等以外，提供有关种族经济差异实际状况的信息和已经取得（或未取得）的相关进展的证据，或可有助于减少人们对种族平等的误解。克劳斯及几位共同作者还指出，理解种族经济不平等的模式，也许有助于人们结合使种族优势和劣势得以维持的社会结构背景来理解种族歧视。

前不久，米切尔·R. 坎贝尔和马库斯·布劳尔（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）在《心理学展望》杂志上撰文指出，我们对成见的了解与现实世界为减少成见而采取的办法（这些办法往往无果而终）之间存在缺口。把社会营销原理用于成见研究，可有助于缩小这一缺口。社会营销主要涉及改变行为，它并非要明确人类行为的一般原理，而是以问题为基础，针对特定背景下的特定行为。坎贝尔和布劳尔倡导将基于理论的原理和基于问题的原理合而用之，向专业工作者提供更多手段，帮助他们减少成见、提出理论。

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者;单位：中华女子学院）