语言的群体间偏差研究

Linguistic Intergroup Bias

个体在用语言来描述他人的行为时,会因为描述对象的群体种类不同而有偏差,具体表现为在描述群体内成员的积极行为和群体外成员的负向行为时,会使用较高抽象水平的词;在描述群体外成员的积极行为和群体内成员的负向行为时,会使用较低抽象水平的词。这种抽象水平的差异由语言范畴模型来具体表明。Maass等人把这种描述上的偏差命名为语言的群体间偏差,并认为在这一现象下有两种机制:动机机制和认知机制,研究表明认知机制能解释大部分语言的群体间偏差现象,而动机机制会在群体内形象受到威胁时发挥作用。

Language used to describe a specific event may be biased as a result of the typicality or group membership of the actor performing a behavior. In general, positive behavior performed by an in- group member and negative behavior performed by an out- group member is described more abstractly than negative behavior performed by an in - group member and positive behavior performed by an out - group member. The linguistic category model has been used to distinguish between different levels of linguistic abstraction from the concrete to the increasingly abstract. Maass describes the bias as the linguistic intergroup bias （LIB）. Two mechanisms have been advanced to underlie the LIB：cognitive mechanism and motivational mechanisms. Researches indicate that most of linguistic intergroup bias phenomena can be explained by cognitive mechanisms, the motivational mechanisms play roles when in- group be threatened.