Intergroup Threat Lead To Ego Depletion:The Role Of Self-Uncertainty And Social Identity Mapping

Human beings live in a complex and diverse world.People are divided into different groups because of their different nationalities,races,ethnicity,genders,social strata,religious beliefs,political ideologies,cultural attributes,etc.The group provides its members with the rules of the world’s operation and lets them know where they belong.The long-term existence of the dual registered residence system and dual structure in urban and rural areas in the past,on the one hand,resulted in the objective differences between urban and rural residents in material and spiritual resources;On the other hand,it also leads to the gap and even prejudice between the urban and rural groups at the psychological and socio-cultural implicit level.With the development of urbanization in the new era,the boundaries between urban and rural areas are becoming more and more blurred,and the communication between them is becoming more and more seamless.The differences between urban and rural areas are more easily perceived and easy to induce intergroup threat.Previous studies have shown that various kinds of stress can induce ego depletion,such as work experience,family pressure,sexual minority pressure,stereotype threat,etc.In addition,the comprehensive stress model also points out that the perception,assessment and response to threats will lead to ego depletion.Therefore,as an outside group pressure event,intergroup threat may cause ego depletion of members of the inner group.Group threat perception will not only affect the self-concept of the members of the inner group at the group level,but also affect the self-concept at the individual level,causing the self-uncertainty of the members of the inner group,that is,the temporary state of the lack of consistency and continuity when they doubt and puzzle about their important psychological quality.Uncertainty management theory believes that selfuncertain experiences will consume individual cognitive and emotional resources,such as worse performance in subsequent self-control tasks,consuming individual cognitive resources;They causes anger,fear,discrimination and other emotions of external groups,and consumes emotional resources of individuals.To sum up,the self-uncertainty caused by intergroup threat may be the psychological mechanism of ego depletion induced by intergroup threat.Experiencing ego depletion will bring about many negative effects on individuals and society.It is closely related to overeating,alcoholism and impulsive consumption at the physical level.It is also closely related to obesity,substance abuse,violence and crime at the social level.In view of various negative effects of ego depletion,it is of far-reaching significance to find ways to recover own resources and improve self-control ability in order to enable rural groups to better cope with the possible pressure consequences of urban groups.Fortunately,the resource model of self-control believes that ego depletion is a temporary state,which can promote recovery through effective intervention.The research on social identity mapping found that building a visual map can help group members recall different important groups to which they belong.The group’s enthusiasm and importance for itself,as well as the similarity and compatibility between different groups,can promote people to sense social support,and identify high-quality group relationships and potential sources of support they have.Therefore,social identity mapping may be an effective way to promote ego depletion recovery induced by intergroup threat.Based on the comprehensive stress model,uncertainty management theory and the theoretical role of social identity mapping,this study examined the relationship between intergroup threat and ego depletion,the possible mediation mechanism of self-uncertainty and the buffering effect of social identity mapping through three studies.Study 1 used a questionnaire measurement method to measure intergroup threat,self-uncertainty,and ego depletion.It was found that intergroup threat are positively correlated with ego depletion,and self-uncertainty plays a partial mediating role between intergroup threat and ego depletion.The impact of intergroup threat on ego depletion and the mediating role of self-uncertainty were examined.Study 2 used experimental methods to manipulate intergroup threat,using two indicators: subjective completion scale evaluation and objective completion of Stroop task to measure ego depletion.It was found that intergroup threat can lead to subjective ego depletion,and self-uncertainty has a partial mediating effect;Symbolic threats can induce objective ego depletion,and self-uncertainty plays a partial mediating role.Further explore the causal relationship between intergroup threat and ego depletion and verify the mediating role of self-uncertainty.Study 3 also used laboratory methods to manipulate intergroup threat,and completed social identity mapping through paper and pencil drawing.Finally,ego depletion was measured using two indicators: subjective scale evaluation and Stroop task.The results of previous studies were repeated to verify that intergroup threat can lead to subjective ego depletion,and self-uncertainty has a partial mediating effect;Symbolic threats can induce objective ego depletion,and self-uncertainty plays a partial mediating role.It was found that social identity mapping can effectively buffer ego depletion induced by intergroup threat.Three studies have shown that different types of intergroup threats can deplete self resources,induce subjective ego depletion,and self-uncertainty is a mediating factor in the relationship between the two;Only symbolic threats can lead to objective ego depletion,and self-uncertainty also has a mediating effect;Social identity mapping cushions the impact of intergroup threat on subjective ego depletion,as well as the impact of symbolic threats on objective ego depletion.