The objectives of this Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Minority Post-Doctoral Fellowship are (1) to enhance the researcher's skills in empirical research methods and formal reasoning, and (2) to develop a bold interdisciplinary research program that will constitute the foundation for a life-long career of research relevant to societal problems. The Fellow will broaden his research skills in an empirical social science (social psychology) that is both rooted in the experimental method and outside of the discipline in which he received his Ph.D. The UCLA Department of Psychology is home to internationally recognized programs in psychometrics and the psychology of intergroup relations, resources that will be valuable for his professional development. Under the supervision of Dr. James Sidanius (UCLA Dept. of Psychology), the Fellow will conduct research into the nature of stereotypes, the conditions under which they appear, and how they relate to outgroup favoritism. His present theoretical and empirical work in coalitional psychology will be extended to explore the extent to which stereotypes can be interpreted as pro-normative cognitions that provide the basis for a mutual understanding of shared interests. The proposed integrative model predicts that such pro-normative cognitions should manifest themselves most stridently under threat or challenge. Together with Dr. Sidanius the Fellow will design and conduct experiments examining the effects of various threat stimuli on the intergroup attitudes of members of ethnic groups differing in socio-economic success. These investigations will be set against the background of Greater Los Angeles, which is an area of broad social, economic, and cultural diversity, containing a wide array of demographic groups that provide unique research opportunities. This research may be of interest to public policy experts, diplomats and those committed to social justice in helping to design programs directed at avoiding or ameliorating interethnic conflicts that stem from ethnocentrism and perceived threat.
