想象积极群际接触与群际关系改善实验研究述评

A Review on the Experimental Research of Imagination Positive Intergroup Contact and Improving Intergroup Relationships

想象群际接触的基本思想指,在心理上想象一个积极的群际接触会创设一个心理接触的脚本,激发与外群体成员成功互动的观念,积极互动观念也就伴随产生对外群体的积极情感,导致对外群体的积极感知,增强和外群体进一步接触的意愿。想象群际接触的实验操纵比较简单,设置实验组和控制组,采用指导语的方式,但是想象群际接触的效应受群体地位、内群体认同状况等变量的调节。在未来的研究中,需要注意提高研究的效度,加强机制、直接行为效应的研究,想象群际接触理论为改善群际关系提供了一个崭新的框架。

Many studies have shown that imagining intergroup contact can improve attitudes towards social groups. Imagined intergroup contact includes mentally stimulating a social interaction between an ingroup member and an outgroup member. The basic idea of imagined intergroup contact is that mentally simulating a positive contact experience will create a mental contact ＇script＇, alongside with more positive feelings about outgroups, and will result in more favorable outgroup perceptions and enhanced intentions to engage in future contact. The basic imagined contact experimental instruction is very simple. Participants in imagined contact condition received the instructions, were given a few minutes to imagine the scene. The effectiveness of imagined contact was moderated by certain conditions, such as the group status and the level of identification with one＇s ingroup. There are some limitations in the existing studies. First, the real life intergrouti contact is carried out in a more complicated social background. The psychological reaction to outgroup member not only includes the positive events, but also includes more negative events. So the similarity between the simulated psychological environment of the imagined contact and the actual intergroup contact is extremely low. Secondly, the same mental simulation scenarios for different social groups result in different consequences. The effective- ness of imagined contact is moderated by the group difference variable. So, for the imagined contact, researchers must consider benefit relationship between the groups, such as the officials and people in conflict, and the resentment of the rich people, and still need to consider people＇s subjective attitude towards life, and the specific intergroup contact experience, the original knowledge system, and e- ven the personality difference. On the other hand, the effectiveness of imagined contact is moderated by the difficulty of the task, vivid- ness, concreteness, etc. Thirdly, an important question is that the effectiveness of imagined contact can last for a long time. In the present, in terms of most imagined contact study, the measurement of the dependent variable in imagined contact situation should be immediately implemented after the task. However, if the effectiveness of imagined contact has a powerful influence, its effectiveness should be last a few days and a few weeks and can be permanent. Future research should pay more attention to improving the ecological validity, further explore the mechanism and the direct behavior effect of imagined intergroup contact. The imagined intergroup contact theory provides an innovative framework for attempts to reduce prejudice and improve intergroup relations. To apply the imagined intergroup contact theory in real life situations calls for improving the level of research and solving many specific operational problems.