The Effects Of Individuation On The Behavioral Effect Of Female Negative Self-relevant Stereotype Activation

The behavioral effect of stereotype activation existed in many fields and had a widespread influence. If a stereotype was activated, participants'performance in the related tasks would be affected, and it worked at both conscious and unconscious level. Recently, to inhibit the behavioral effect of negative stereotype activation was a focus in social cognitive field. As a kind of category information, stereotypes were concerned about the group traits. In the opposite way, the individuation emphasized individual traits, which were distinguished from the group. Researches have shown that individual information could make the participants realize the variety traits of in-group members who were negative stereotyped, inhibit stereotype activation for other people (who were out of their own groups), and resist the prejudices. This research tested the effects of individuation on the behavioral effect of female negative self-relevant stereotype activation through two experiments.Experiment 1 used two factors between subjects design to verify the behavioral effect of female negative self-relevant stereotype activation. The results indicated that when the negative stereotype of gender-spatial ability was activated, the female showed the behavioral effect consisted with the stereotype in the mental rotation task, which worked at both implicit and explicit level.Experiment 2 used three factors between subjects design to test the effect of individuation on the behavioral effect of female negative self-relevant stereotype activation. The results indicated that the individuation inhibited the behavioral effect of female-spatial ability negative stereotype activation in the mental rotation task at both implicit and explicit level.