The Experimental Research On Abstract Prototype And Concrete Exemplars Of Stereotype

The development of social cognitive psychology has offered the brand-new background for researching stereotype. Under this background, stereotype is regarded as a kind of cognitive structure which influences group and group member's information processing pattern, concentrating on exploring the stereotype's essence as the cognitive structure and researching this structure how influence the group and group member's information processing mechanism. Following this route, researchers carried out a large amount of studying, and tentatively proposed stereotype's representational model in memory: Abstract prototype, concrete exemplars and mixing model; the stereotype has assimilation effect in succeeding information processing. But, up till now, three stereotype's representational models have been still in the disputing level among the researchers and unable to reach common view on a certain model all the time.Considering choosing social groups with comparatively strong and universal stereotype, so this research carries on studying sex stereotype. In the course of studying, researcher attempts to separate the abstract prototype and concrete exemplars of stereotype, and manipulates different levels of abstract prototype and concrete exemplars, may disclose stereotype's representational models in memory, its effect in the succeeding information processing and its conscious inhibition according to the reaction time index. Meanwhile, researcher tries to use one of the new technologies of brain nerve science at present (event-related brain potentials, named ERP) to study stereotype's representational models in memory, according to the varying of ERP amplitude and latency under abstract prototype or concrete exemplars prime conditions, which answers stereotype's representational models in memory, expects to make more scientific explanation to the result of the behavior experiment, and finally realizes to clarify the existing disputes of theory model.The studying results show: (l)Stereotype in memory follows "pyramid" representational model, which is the priority of typical exemplars, second category takes second place, and final is meta-category; atypical exemplars representation comply with meta-category. (2)Abstract prototype and concrete exemplars of stereotype are independent in certain procession; they follow the self-terminating serial processing pattern. (3)Abstract prototype and typical exemplars of stereotype have assimilation effect in succeeding information processing; anti- exemplars (individual information) have contrast effect in succeeding information processing; the atypical exemplars' effect should depend on specific condition in succeeding information processing. (4)Stereotype has very strong stability, but able to consciously inhibit stereotype through studying; Abstract prototype is more effective than concrete exemplars for consciously inhibiting stereotype. (5)Under stereotyping conflict condition, the ERP exhibited a late positivity(P600) in Frontal and Temporal, the amplitude of P600 decreases with increasing intensity of the conflict. (6)Social information conflict and natural information conflict causes different brain mechanism to some extent, but social information processing also follows the brain hemisphere dominant effects in natural information processing.