National and Ethnic Identity in the Face of Discrimination: Ethnic Minority and Majority Perspectives

Does the United States afford people of different backgrounds a sense of equal identification with the nation? Past research has documented ethnic/racial group differences on levels of national identity but there has been little research examining what psychologically moderates these disparities. The present research investigates how perceived group discrimination is associated with national and ethnic identification among ethnic majority and minority groups. Study 1 examines whether perceived group discrimination moderates subgroup differences on national and ethnic identification. Study 2 makes salient group discrimination-via an item order manipulation-and examines the effects on national and ethnic identification. In general, the 2 studies demonstrate that for most ethnic minorities higher perceptions of group discrimination are related to lower levels of national identity and higher ethnic identity. Conversely, among majority group members, higher levels of perceived discrimination predict higher levels of national identity with little influence on ethnic identification

Museum spaces as psychological affordances: representations of immigration history and national identity

The present research draws upon a cultural psychological perspective to consider how psychological phenomena are grounded in socio-cultural contexts. Specifically, we examine the association between representations of history at Ellis Island Immigration Museum and identity-relevant concerns. Pilot study participants (N = 13) took a total of 114 photographs of exhibits that they considered as most important in the museum. Results indicate that a majority of the photographs reflected neutral themes (n = 81), followed by nation-glorifying images (n= 24), and then critical themes that highlight injustices and barriers faced by immigrants (n= 9). Study 1 examines whether there is a preference for glorifying images, and if that preference is related to cultural-assimilationist conceptions of national identity (i.e., defining American identity in dominant group standards). We exposed a new sample of participants (N = 119) to photographs reflecting all three themes. Results indicate that participants expressed greater liking for glorifying images, followed by neutral images, and critical images. National identity moderated within-subject variation in liking scores. Study 2 included 35 visitors who completed a survey before engaging with the museum or after their visit. Results indicate that participants who had completed their visit, compared to participants who had not entered the museum, reported (i) higher endorsement of cultural-assimilationist identity, and (ii) increased support for exclusive immigration policies. Study 3 exposed participants (N = 257) to glorifying, critical, or neutral images. Results indicate that participants who were exposed to glorifying images, especially those endorsing cultural-assimilationist identity, demonstrate decreased perception of current-day racial injustice, and increased ethnocentric enforcement bias. We discuss how engagement with privileged narratives may serve dominant group ends and reproduce systems of privilege

“If You Don’t Speak English, I Can’t Understand You!”: Exposure to Various Foreign Languages as a Threat

The number of non-English speaking and bilingual immigrants continues to grow in the U.S. Previous research suggests that about one third of White Americans feel threatened upon hearing a language other than English. The current research examines how exposure to a foreign language affects White Americans’ perceptions of immigrants and group-based threats. In Study 1, White Americans were randomly assigned to read one of four fictional transcripts of a conversation of an immigrant family at a restaurant, where the type of language being spoken was manipulated to be either Korean, Spanish, German, or English. In Study 2, White Americans read the same fictional transcript—minus the Spanish; however, there was an addition of two subtitles conditions in which the subtitles were provided next to the Korean and German texts. The two studies suggest that exposure to a foreign language—regardless of whether they are consistent with Anglocentric constructions of American identity—lead White Americans to form less positive impressions of the immigrant targets and their conversation, experience an uptick in group-based threats, and display greater anti-immigrant attitudes. Moreover, there is evidence that the (in)ability to understand the conversation (i.e., epistemic threat) influences participants’ perceptions of immigrants and group-based threats

Exemplary efforts in psychology to recruit and retain graduate students of color

Many psychology departments are striving for a greater representation of students of color within their graduate preparation programs with the aim of producing a more diverse pool of psychological service providers, scientists, and educators. To help improve the minority pipeline in psychology, the authors identify and describe recruitment and retention strategies used at 11 departments and programs considered to be making exemplary efforts to attract and retain minority students of color. The strategies most consistently used included engaging current minority faculty and students in recruitment activities, offering attractive financial aid packages, having faculty members make personal contacts with prospective students, creating linkages with historical institutions of color, having (or approached having) a critical mass of faculty and students of color, offering a diversity issues course, and engaging students in diversity issues research. Despite the similarities, the programs and departments were each distinctive and innovative in their overall approaches to student recruitment and retention. Highlighting the strategies used at successful institutions may help others develop plans for improving the minority pipeline within their own departments and programs. Copyright 2006 by the American Psychological Association

A Cultural Psychological Analysis of Collective Memory as Mediated Action: Constructions of Indian History

The present research applies a cultural psychological perspective on collective memory as mediated action to examine how constructions of a national past serve as tools that both reflect and shape national identity concerns. We employ a situation-sampling method to investigate collective memory in a series of studies concerning intergroup relations in the Indian context. In Study 1, participants (N = 55) generated three historical events that they considered important/relevant for Indian history. In Study 2, participants (N = 95) rated the importance and relevance of these events in a within-participant design. Illuminating the psychological constitution of cultural reality, frequency of recall (Study 1) and ratings of importance/relevance (Study 2) were greater for nation-glorifying events celebrating ingroup triumph than for typically silenced, critical events acknowledging ingroup wrongdoing. Moreover, these patterns were stronger among participants who scored higher in national identification. In Studies 3 (N = 65) and 4 (N = 160), we exposed participants to different categories of events in a between-participants design. Illuminating the cultural constitution of psychological experience, participants exposed to typically silenced, critical events reported lower national identification and greater perception of injustice against marginalized groups than did participants exposed to nation-glorifying events. Together, results illuminate a conception of collective memory as mediated action. Producers invest memory products with an identity-interested charge that directs subsequent intergroup relations toward identity-consistent ends

Family ties: Exploring the influence of family legacy on self and identity

In three studies we introduce the idea of the family legacy - shared practices, beliefs, and other psychological materials within a family that are passed on from one generation to another - and examine its role in shaping individuals' self and identity. In three quasi-experimental studies, we compare students who have had family attend the university (legacy) to those who have not (non-legacy) on identity-relevant variables. In Study 1a, legacy (vs. non-legacy) participants had stronger university identification. Study 1b replicated and extended this finding, showing that legacy participants' increased identification predicts feelings of family connectedness and self-continuity. Legacy participants were also more likely to express familial reasons for attending college, as indicated by word count analyses. In Study 2, legacy (vs. non-legacy) participants had more university-related experiences in the past which mediated the effect of legacy on increased identification, and in turn, explained their stronger connectedness and continuity. These findings are discussed in the framework of shared reality theory and open the door for future research examining how identity processes are influenced by family ties

Gender Asymmetry in the Construction of American National Identity

Dominant groups (e.g., White U.S. citizens) are more associated with “American” identity and they feel greater ownership over American national identity compared to ethnic minority groups. We extended this perception to gender and tested whether American national identity is constructed in masculine, versus feminine, terms. We examined whether U.S. men feel greater symbolic ownership over the nation and represent what it means to be a prototypical American, more than U.S. women. In Study 1, men and women considered male-associated traits more American than female-associated traits and listed more men as examples of “true” Americans than women. In Study 2, men reported higher levels of nationalism than women. Women’s nationalism was moderated by their conception of male-associated traits as American—women who viewed American identity as more masculine were less nationalistic. Men showed a stronger correlation between gender identity and American identity compared to women. However, correlations between gender identity and nationalism did not differ by participant gender. Results suggest men and masculinity are considered more American than are women and femininity. We provide support for the subgroup asymmetry hypothesis through the novel lens of gender. We discuss means of attenuating the gendered construction of national identity in terms of media, policy, and education

A Compensatory Control Account of Meritocracy

Why are people motivated to support social systems that claim to distribute resources based on hard work and effort, even when those systems seem unfair? Recent research on compensatory control shows that lowered perceptions of personal control motivate a greater endorsement of external systems (e.g., God, government) that compensate for a lack of personal control. The present studies demonstrate that U.S. citizens’ faith in a popular economic ideology, namely the belief that hard work guarantees success (i.e., meritocracy), similarly increases under conditions of decreased personal control. We found that a threat to personal control increased participants’ endorsement of meritocracy (Studies 1 and 2). Additionally, lowered perceptions of control led to increased feelings of anxiety regarding the future, but the subsequent endorsement of (Study 2) or exposure to (Study 3) meritocracy attenuated this effect. While the compensatory use of meritocracy may be a phenomenon unique to the United States of America, these studies provide important insight into the appeal and persistence of ideologies in general

Prejudice at the nexus of race and gender: An outgroup male target hypothesis.

Adopting an evolutionary approach to the psychology of race bias, we posit that intergroup conflict perpetrated by male aggressors throughout human evolutionary history has shaped the psychology of modern forms of intergroup bias and that this psychology reflects the unique adaptive problems that differ between men and women in coping with male aggressors from groups other than one’s own. Here we report results across 4 studies consistent with this perspective, showing that race bias is moderated by gender differences in traits relevant to threat responses that differ in their adaptive utility between the sexes—namely, aggression and dominance motives for men and fear of sexual coercion for women. These results are consistent with the notion that the psychology of intergroup bias is generated by different psychological systems for men and women, and the results underscore the importance of considering the gender of the outgroup target as well as the gender of the agent in psychological studies on prejudice and discrimination.Psycholog