Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Dec 2;15(12):e0243058. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243058. eCollection 2020.
To best understand the possible negative health and social consequences associated with racial microaggression, in-depth understanding of how people judge these events is needed. People of Color (POC) and White participants (N = 64) were recruited for a mixed-methods study that incorporated quantitative attitude ratings and focus group interviews. Participants read and discussed their attitudes toward five vignettes that reflected microassault, microinsult, and microinvalidation scenarios. Semantic differential ratings showed that participants judged microassaults to be most unacceptable, followed by microinsults and then microinvalidations. Using a grounded theory approach, our qualitative analysis of interview data revealed five thematic categories. First, participants judged receivers' psychological harm to be a critical consideration for their attitudes toward microaggression scenarios; they discussed factors associated with individual differences in appraisals, prior exposures to discrimination, and sensitivity to race. Second, participants were less consistent in their opinion about the role of the deliverers' intent on their judgment of microaggressions; many considered microaggression events to be results of deliverers' cultural ignorance and racial insensitivity. Third, our analysis revealed the central importance of contexts that shaped participants' attitudes toward microaggression. Fourth, participants also discussed the notion that receivers of microaggression were racist for calling attention to race issues. Finally, POC participants tended to relate to the vignettes and use their lived experiences to contextualize their opinions about racial microaggression. The current results raise concerns regarding the conceptualization and utility of the word "microaggression," especially within the broader contexts of racism and major discrimination. Other empirical and practical implications are discussed.
为了更好地理解与种族微攻击相关的可能的负面健康和社会后果，需要深入了解人们如何判断这些事件。本研究招募了有色人种（POC）和白人参与者（N=64），采用混合方法研究，包括定量态度评定和焦点小组访谈。参与者阅读并讨论了反映微侵犯、微侮辱和微否认情景的五个小插曲的态度。语义差异评定显示，参与者认为微侵犯最不可接受，其次是微侮辱，然后是微否认。使用扎根理论方法，我们对访谈数据的定性分析揭示了五个主题类别。首先，参与者判断接收者的心理伤害是他们对微攻击情景的态度的关键考虑因素；他们讨论了与个体差异评估、先前经历的歧视和对种族的敏感性相关的因素。其次，参与者对传达者意图在他们对微攻击的判断中的作用的看法不太一致；许多人认为微攻击事件是传达者文化无知和种族不敏感的结果。第三，我们的分析揭示了背景对参与者对微攻击态度的重要性。第四，参与者还讨论了这样一种观点，即微攻击的接收者因为关注种族问题而被称为种族主义者。最后，POC 参与者往往与小插曲有关，并利用他们的生活经历来将他们对种族微攻击的看法置于背景中。目前的结果引发了对“微攻击”这个词的概念化和实用性的关注，特别是在种族主义和主要歧视的更广泛背景下。还讨论了其他实证和实际意义。
