元刻板印象是指个体关于外群体成员对其所属群体所持刻板印象的信念或看法,消极元刻板印象的激活会导致群体成员的一种社会心理困境和认知不平衡状态,诱发压力和害怕体验,并损害其行为表现。研究采用工作记忆的N-back范式,对随迁儿童的元刻板印象威胁效应进行探讨。实验通过让被试根据不同指导语写形容词的方式,操纵了“威胁”和“无威胁”的条件,并考察不同条件对群际焦虑和工作记忆的影响。结果如下:(1)威胁组被试的群际焦虑水平显著高于无威胁组;(2)在工作记忆的3个任务难度中,威胁组被试的正确率显著低于无威胁组;随着难度的增加,威胁组和无威胁组被试的正确率都显著下降:(3)在工作记忆的3个任务难度中,威胁组被试的反应时显著长于无威胁组;随着难度的增加,威胁组和无威胁组被试的反应时都显著增长,且组别与任务难度的交互作用显著;(4)群际焦虑在元刻板印象与工作记忆任务的正确率(中等难度任务)间起完全中介作用,在元刻板印象与工作记忆任务的反应时(中等难度任务)间起部分中介作用。结果表明,在激活随迁儿童的消极元刻板印象后,产生了明显的元刻板印象威胁效应。
Meta-stereotype refers to a person's beliefs regarding the stereotype that out-group members hold about their own group. The model of intergroup anxiety argues that negative meta-stereotype generates threat by creating negative expectations on the behavior of out-group members. Previous research has demonstrated that intergroup anxiety following stereotype threat contribute to the depletion of working memory and then impairs the performance in the related domain, but the mechanism of the recta-stereotype threat effects on cognition remains unclear. Accordingly, it was common that migrant children have the negative meta-stereotype, however, the influence of negative recta-stereotype on migrant children's cognition has not been thoroughly investigated. The current study aimed to explore, firstly, the negative meta-stereotype effects on working memory among migrant children, secondly, the mediated role of the intergroup anxiety between meta-stereotype and working memory, thirdly, the moderated role of difficulty of working memory task on negative recta-stereotype effects. A total of 90 migrant children participated in the present study. Participants were instructed to write descriptive adjectives to evoke negative meta-stereotype or not according to different instructions. Then, participants were assigned to either the meta-stereotype threat (MST) condition (25 males, 24 females, aged 11-13 years, M = 12.05, SD = 0.83) or the non-MST condition (21 males, 20 females, aged 11-13 years, M = 12.24, SD = 0.79). This study was organized into a 2×3 design. The first factor was the type of meta-stereotype, consisting of 2 levels, MST condition and non-MST condition. The second factor was the type of working memory, including 3 levels, 0-, 1-, and 2-back working memory tasks. The participants also completed the intergroup-anxiety scale. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and mediation analysis were used to analyze the data. The following results were observed: (1) The intergroup anxiety under the MST