自发特质推理中的社会刻板效应

近来, 考察自发特质推理中的社会刻板效应, 成为自发特质推理研究的一个新趋势。在介绍自发特质推理及其研究范式的基础上, 概述了刻板印象与特质的概念联系, 并阐明了考察自发特质推理中的社会刻板效应的理论依据和方法。接着, 对自发特质推理中的职业、种族和性别刻板效应研究进行了回顾, 发现刻板印象对自发特质推理的影响主要通过它对自发特质推理的阻碍作用体现出来, 在高认知负荷下, 这种阻碍作用更为明显。最后, 从研究对象、研究方法、研究内容三个方面对该领域的研究进行了评价和展望。     

刻板印象的激活效应:行为和ERPs证据

以刻板印象表征中的核心内容——刻板特质词作为研究材料,采用分类-确认范式对刻板印象激活效应的时间进程及其认知机制进行了探讨。以性别范畴词"男"/"女"作为启动刺激,以性别刻板特质词作为靶子,特质词与范畴词构成一致和冲突两种情境,记录了34名被试(男女各半)对特质词与范畴词进行一致性判断时的行为反应和ERPs。结果发现:(1)刻板印象冲突情境下,因刻板印象激活效应的作用,被试的反应时要比刻板印象一致情境下更长;不同性别的被试均表现出性别内群体范畴词激活优势效应,即内群体范畴词启动条件下反应时更短。(2)刻板印象激活效应对早期ERP成分(P1、N170、N100、P2)没有影响,在刻板印象冲突情境下诱发了额-中区更显著的N400,该成分标志着刻板印象的激活效应;不同性别的被试均在内群体范畴词启动下诱发了波幅更大的P600。(3)刻板印象的激活效应以及内群体范畴词激活优势效应均发生在知觉后阶段。     

大学生自发特质推理的实验研究

该研究采用内隐的错误再认范式以及外显的特质评定方法考察了我国大学生的自发特质推理现象。研究发现,我国大学生在对行为句子进行编码时,会自发激活其隐含的特质概念,即进行自发特质推理(实验一)。而且,大学生不仅自发地将激活的特质与行为者建立联结(实验二),还进一步将推理出的特质归于行为者,认为表现出特定行为的行为者具有其行为所隐含的特质(实验三)。     

心理距离对自发特质推理的影响

采用错误再认范式,考察了心理距离是否影响个体对他人行为的自发特质推理。实验1采用2（配对类型：图片-可推测的特质词、图片-不可推测的特质词）× 2（空间距离：近、远）的混合设计,要求被试判断特质词是否在前面的行为句中出现过,以探讨自发特质推理形成情况。结果表明,与近空间距离相比,被试对远空间心理距离的行为主体产生了更多的自发特质推理。实验2采用2（配对类型：图片-可推测的特质词、图片-不可推测的特质词）× 2（时间距离：近、远）的混合设计,被试反应与实验1相同。结果发现,与近时间心理距离相比,被试对远时间心理距离的行为主体产生了更多的自发特质推理。实验结果提示远心理距离比近心理距离更利于自发特质推理,并在解释水平理论的框架内对结果进行了讨论。     

内、外归因个体自发特质推理与自发情境推理的比较

通过探测词再认范式的变式,考察了个体的自发特质推理与自发情境推理。实验1发现,当给个体呈现既隐含特质又隐含情境的行为句子时,个体既进行自发特质推理又进行自发情境推理。实验2表明,内、外归因的个体均能够进行自发特质推理和自发情境推理,但内归因个体的自发特质推理与自发情境推理无显著差异,而外归因个体的自发情境推理强于自发特质推理。     

启动语言对汉-英双语者场景一致性判断的影响

采用眼动技术考察启动语言对场景一致性判断的影响, 要求汉-英双语者判断启动短语与图片场景的一致性。研究发现, 启动语言影响汉-英双语者的场景知觉：(1)无论是英语短语启动, 还是汉语短语启动, 前景物体均能够更多更早地获得关注, 这与英语短语和汉语短语的所指相同有关; (2)语言特性影响被试的眼动轨迹：在英语短语启动下, 背景信息后置引导被试对背景进行了额外的、快速的关注; 在汉语短语启动下, 被试的注视由前景区转至背景区的时间较晚且注视比例较小; (3)任务加工深度影响汉英双语者的场景知觉。     

道德自我调节对亲社会行为和违规行为的影响

本文通过两个研究探讨道德自我调节对亲社会行为和违规行为的影响。研究一中,被试随机分为三组,分别抄写“正性特质词语”“负性特质词语”或“中性词语”,并回忆自己所经历的与关键词有关的事情。启动完成后,考察其捐助行为。结果发现,正性特质启动组被试愿意捐助的数目显著高于负性特质和中性词语启动组。研究二用同样的方法改变被试的道德自我知觉,然后对被试的作弊行为进行了考察。结果发现,正性特质启动组的作弊严重程度显著低于中性词语启动组,负性特质启动组的作弊发生率和作弊严重程度显著低于中性词语启动组。本研究表明,道德自我调节过程不一定遵循负反馈机制：虽然“道德净化效应”在本研究中得到了部分验证,但是我们的实验结果不符合“道德许可效应”的预期。     

贫富阶层刻板印象对源记忆的影响

源检测框架下,在记忆的提取阶段激活刻板印象会导致错误记忆,通过激活贫富刻板印象,考察对源检测记忆的影响,结果发现被试表现出刻板印象一致的错误记忆,通过多项式加工树模型的分析发现,被试在来源判断时利用刻板印象知识表现出猜测反应.     

对体胖者的社会性偏向：本土化视角的探索

通过三个研究从本土化视角探索人们对体胖者的社会性偏向特征。研究1采用访谈法和问卷法获得了被试对体胖者的刻板印象内容；研究2使用情感温度计和AMP范式对体胖者的外显与内隐偏见进行了测量；研究3通过情境测量对比人们在不同生活情境中对体胖者的行为反应。结果表明，中国被试对体胖者的刻板印象内容提名以高热情特质为主，刻板印象评价呈现低能力为主的特征；人们对体胖者没有外显偏见，但存在一定内隐偏见；社会生活情境中体胖者可能遭遇歧视，对女性体胖者的歧视程度更高。总体上，人们对体胖者的社会性偏向表现出复合性的本土化特征。     

条件推理的语义关系表达形式效应

作者用以大学生为被试的实验考察, 基本条件句语义关系表达形式(充分关系、必要关系和析取关系表达形式)和作为心理模型外显建构的可能性判断任务对条件推理的可能影响。实验结果发现, 条件推理的语义关系表达形式效应显著, 条件句语义关系表达形式对被试条件推理有显著的影响, 条件推理成绩随条件句语义关系表达的外显程度增加而增加; 被试在可能性判断任务中对条件句所含心理模型的外显建构并没有明显改善条件推理的成绩; 在有可能性判断任务条件下, 被试外显心理模型建构的成绩变化模式并不能一致地预测条件推理成绩的变化模式。这些结果说明, 人们的条件推理可能并不是完全基于心理模型建构, 而是还受对条件句前后件之间语义关系理解的影响; 条件句表达形式中语义关系的外显内隐模式影响对条件句语义关系的知觉理解难易, 从而影响相应条件推理的成绩。     

Spontaneous trait inference and construal level theory: Psychological distance increases nonconscious trait thinking

Can psychological distance affect how much perceivers form spontaneous trait inferences (STI) from others’ behaviors? On the basis of construal level theory (CLT) which posits that distant (vs. near) entities are represented more in terms of their abstract, global, and decontextualized features, we predicted that perceived distance would increase the tendency for perceivers to draw spontaneous trait inferences from behavioral information about actors. In two experiments, participants learned about people who were perceived as being distant or proximal to the self, and STI formation was subsequently assessed. We found that perceivers were more likely to form STIs about distant vs. near actors from the same behavioral information. These findings generalized across two distance dimensions: space and time. In addition, we found that priming individuals to adopt a high-level (vs. low-level) construal mindset also resulted in increased STI (Experiment 3). In sum, psychological distance facilitates STI formation, and this occurs via high-level construal of actors and their behaviors.     

Prejudice and stereotype maintenance processes: attention, attribution, and individuation

Three experiments examined the relationship between prejudice and processing of stereotypic information. Higher levels of prejudice were associated with greater attention to and more thorough encoding of stereotype-inconsistent than stereotype-consistent behaviors but only when processing capacity was plentiful (Experiments 1 and 3). High-prejudice participants attributed consistent behaviors to internal factors and inconsistent behaviors to external forces (Experiment 2). Together, these results suggest that high-prejudice people attend carefully to inconsistent behaviors to explain them away but only if they have sufficient resources to do so. Results also showed that low-prejudice but not high-prejudice participants formed individuated impressions by integrating the implications of the target's behaviors (i.e., individuating). High levels of prejudice appear to be associated with biased encoding and judgment processes that may serve to maintain stereotypes.     

Stereotypes and terror management: evidence that mortality salience enhances stereotypic thinking and preferences

If stereotypes function to protect people against death-related concerns, then mortality salience should increase stereotypic thinking and preferences for stereotype-confirming individuals. Study 1 demonstrated that mortality salience increased stereotyping of Germans. In Study 2, it increased participants' tendency to generate more explanations for stereotype-inconsistent than stereotype-consistent gender role behavior. In Study 3, mortality salience increased participants' liking for a stereotype-consistent African American and decreased their liking for a stereotype-inconsistent African American; control participants exhibited the opposite preference. Study 4 replicated this pattern with evaluations of stereotype-confirming or stereotype-disconfirming men and women. Study 5 showed that, among participants high in need for closure, mortality salience led to decreased liking for a stereotype-inconsistent gay man.     

Biased processing of stereotype-incongruency is greater for low than high status groups

Two studies assessed whether a stereotypic explanatory bias emerges primarily when members of low (compared to high) social status groups engage in behaviors inconsistent with group stereotypes. A preliminary study showed that male and female participants spontaneously showed more stereotypically biased explanatory processing of female stereotype-inconsistency (i.e., explanation of male-stereotypic behaviors performed by female compared to male actors) than male stereotype-inconsistency (i.e., explanation of female-stereotypic behaviors performed by male compared to female actors). The main experiment provided a manipulation of social status of target groups, and both external (i.e., situational) and internal (i.e., dispositional) explanations for stereotype-inconsistent behaviors were assessed. Results showed that external explanations for female stereotype-inconsistency were greater for targets described as low, not high in socioeconomic status. This research suggests that information processing is biased when members of a low status group engage in stereotype-inconsistent behaviors, whereas members of high status groups can engage in either stereotypic or counter-stereotypic behaviors without instigating biases in information processing.     

Judging others in the shadow of suspicion

Previous research has found that when perceivers have reason to be suspicious of the motives underlying an actor's behavior, they are likely to draw inferences about the actor's true disposition that reflect a relatively sophisticated style of attributional processing. The present research was designed to examine some of the negative consequences that suspicion can have on perceivers' judgments. In each of the three studies reported, some subjects were made suspicious about the motives of an actor on the basis of contextual information surrounding the actor's behavior, rather than the behavior itself. Results of these studies suggest that, particularly when perceivers believe that the actions or motives of the actor could affect them, suspicion may cause perceivers to see the actor in a more negative light, even if the perceivers are not convinced that the actor's behavior was indeed affected by ulterior motives.The authors thank Patrick Carver and Gilbert Fein for their assistance with the stimulus materials for Study 1, and Jessica Cross, Thomas Tomlinson, and Amy Elmore for their assistance with Studies 2 and 3.     

The efficiency of binding spontaneous trait inferences to actors’ faces

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that the process of binding spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) to actors’ representations is relatively independent of attentional resources. Participants were presented with faces paired with single behaviors. Binding of STIs to actors was revealed by a higher false recognition of implied traits paired with actors’ faces than of implied traits randomly paired with other familiar faces. This effect replicated when each face-behavior pair was presented for 2 s (Experiment 1), when the processing of the information was shallow (Experiment 2), and when participants performed a secondary task during the presentation of behaviors (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 showed that explicit on-line trait judgments of the actor, but not explicit behavior judgments, predicted the false recognition of implied traits in the context of the actor. The possibility that the process of binding STIs to actors’ representations is automatic is discussed.     

Reading between the minds: the use of stereotypes in empathic accuracy

An ideal empathizer may attend to another person's behavior in order to understand that person, but it is also possible that accurately understanding other people involves top-down strategies. We hypothesized that perceivers draw on stereotypes to infer other people's thoughts and that stereotype use increases perceivers' accuracy. In this study, perceivers (N = 161) inferred the thoughts of multiple targets. Inferences consistent with stereotypes for the targets' group (new mothers) more accurately captured targets' thoughts, particularly when actual thought content was also stereotypic. We also decomposed variance in empathic accuracy into thought, target, and perceiver variance. Although past research has frequently focused on variance between perceivers or targets (which assumes individual differences in the ability to understand other people or be understood, respectively), the current study showed that the most substantial variance was found within targets because of differences among thoughts.     

Stereotype strength and attentional bias: Preference for confirming versus disconfirming information depends on processing capacity

In two experiments, we investigated the relationships among stereotype strength, processing capacity, and the allocation of attention to stereotype-consistent versus stereotype-inconsistent information describing a target person. The results of both experiments showed that, with full capacity, greater stereotype strength was associated with increased attention toward stereotype-consistent versus stereotype-inconsistent information. However, when capacity was diminished, greater stereotype strength was associated with increased attention toward inconsistent versus consistent information. Thus, strong stereotypes may act as self-confirming filters when processing capacity is plentiful, but as efficient information gathering devices that maximize the acquisition of novel (disconfirming) information when capacity is depleted. Implications for models of stereotyping and stereotype change are discussed.