The goal of the proposed investigation is to understand the inclusion process for targets of stigma in settings where they have traditionally been marginalized. The approach used is social identity threat (SIT) theory, a situational threat that one can experience based on the knowledge that one's social identity (e.g. sex, race, etc.) may be a source of devaluation in a setting. It is hypothesized that this sense of threat may lead to mistrust in settings for targets. Thus, the specific aim of this research is to understand how cues in a setting will impact trust and threat for targets of stigma. Five experiments examine this using two specific cues: (1) diversity messages, and, (2) proportion of members in a setting that share the target's social identity. Studies 1 and 2 examine the impact of the prescribed cues on trust and test threat as a cognitive mediator. Studies 3 and 4 examine whether trust can be increased for targets without explicit attempts to acknowledge identity. Study 5 explores cues that may repair trust. Collectively, these studies empirically test SIT theory. Recently, psychologists have examined the effects of threat for health outcomes (e.g. stress, hypertension) for targets of stigma. By focusing this investigation on cues that increase trust and decrease threat, it has the potential to explicate how to structure settings to maximize positive physical health outcomes for targets of stigma.
