The Effects Of Individuation On The Cognitive Representation Of Female Self-stereotyping

Self-stereotyping refers to the process to which one views characteristics of one’s in- group as characteristics of oneself. There exists the cognitive overlap of in- group representation and self-presentation in the cognitive representation process of self-stereotyping which companies with special direction—one internalizes in- group stereotypic information. Self stereotypes emphasizes the group characteristics that one belongs to as a kind of stereotype, however, individual information emphasizes unique characteristics of individual different from characteristic of in- group. This research believes that individual information has some influence on the degree and direction of overlap of oneself and in-group in the cognitive representation process of self-stereotyping. The research attempts to investigating the influence of individualization on the cognitive representation process of self-stereotyping through four experiments.In experiment one, we use 2(traits relevance :relevant,irrelevant) ×2( traits valence : positive, negative)×2( the order of evaluation:first self,first in- group)experimental design to measure the cognitive overlap of in- group representation and self-presentation in the cognitive representation process of self-stereotyping.The subjects are female undergraduate students from Lanzhou Jiaotong University. The research findings show that the overlap between self and in-group on stereotype-relevant traits is higher when in-group judgments are made at first time.In experiment two, we use 2(traits relevance :relevant,irrelevant) ×2(traits valence : positive,negative)×2( individual handling:yes,no)experimental design to test the influence of individualization on the level of the overlap of in- group representation and self-presentation in cognitive representation process of self-stereotyping. The subjects are female undergraduate students from Lanzhou Jiaotong University. The research findings show that the level of self and in- group similarity along stereotype-relevant traits is lower for participants in individual handling condition than in no individual handling conditionIn experiment three, we use 2(gender :male,female) ×2( computer target : self,in- group)×2(stereotype traits:female,male, irrelevant)experimental design to find that there is the representation overlap between self and in-group in the dimension of in- group stereotyping in the cognitive representation process of self-presentation and the overlap is the process internalizing in- group traits as their own. The subjects are female undergraduate students from Lanzhou Jiaotong Unive rsity. The research findings show that females show faster reaction times judging the in-group than the self for female stereotypical traits.In experiment four, we use 2(individual handling:yes,no) ×2( computer target : oneself,in- group)×2(stereotype traits :female,male, irrelevant)experimental design to test whether we can take individual conditions as an independent variable to restrain internalization the information of in- group as the informatio n of oneself in the female cognitive representation process of the self-stereotyping. The subjects are undergraduate students from Lanzhou Jiaotong University. The research findings show that females are faster judging the in- group than the self under the condition of no individual handling. However, they are slower judging the in- group than the self under the condition of individual handling.All the findings of the experiments show that there exists the cognitive overlap of in-group representation and self-presentation in the cognitive representation process of self-stereotyping which companies with specific direction and this is the process internalizing in- group traits as their own. Moreover, the individual information affects both the degree of overlap and the direction of in- group representation and self-presentation in the cognitive representation process of self-stereotyping.