Small Change Makes a Big Splash: The Role of Working Self-Concept in the Effects of Stereotype Threat on Memory

ABSTRACT

Assuming that the principle of an active-self account holds true in real life, priming certain constructs could selectively activate a working self-concept, which in turn guides behavior. The current study involved two experiments that examined the relationships between stereotypic identity, working self-concept, and memory performance in older adults. Specifically, Study 1 tested whether a stereotype threat can affect older adults' working self-concept and memory performance. A modified Stroop color naming task and a separate recognition task showed that a stereotype threat prime altered the activation of the working self-concept and deteriorated the older adults' memory performance. Additionally, the working self-concept mediated the effect of stereotype threat on memory performance. Accordingly, we designed Study 2 to assess whether priming different identities can alter the working self-concept of the elderly and buffer the stereotype threat effect on memory performance. The results not only were the same as Study 1 but also revealed that activating multiple identities could mitigate the stereotype threat. These results support an active-self account and the efficacy of stereotype threat intervention. This intervention strategy may be able to be used in real situations to help the elderly alleviate stereotype threats and memory impairment.

KEYWORDS:

• Memory
• older adults
• stereotype threat
• stereotypic identities
• working self-concept

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Corrigendum

Acknowledgments

We thank Rhoda and Edmund Perozzi, PhDs, for editing the English and expressions in this paper.

Author Notes

Pei Liu is a master's degree candidate at the School of Psychology, Shanxi Normal University. Her research interests include decision making, stereotype threat, and social comparison.

Fengqing Zhao is a PhD candidate at the Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China. Her research interest includes social cognition of adolescents and the elderly, and positive youth development.

Baoshan Zhang is an professor at the School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University. His current research interests are stereotype threat, interpersonal relationships, and social emotions.

Qingxiu Dang is a master's degree candidate at the School of Psychology, Shanxi Normal University. Her research interests include decision making, stereotype threat, and social comparison.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Social Science Foundation (17BSH153).

Notes

¹ Because the general provision for retirement age in China is 60 for males and 55 for females, we used these ages as the starting points of old age to adapt to China's current situation.

² The participants in this study had not participated in similar psychological experiments before this study. At the end of the procedure, they were asked for their opinion about the purpose of the study. No one guessed the actual research purpose.

³ Those articles about priming different stereotypic identities in both Study 1 and Study 2 are available upon request from the corresponding author.

⁴ The differences in the manipulation check between the threat group and the control group were significant, t(58) = 2.05, p = .045, Cohen's d = 0.53.

⁵ The data from two participants who had a response time in excess of 2,000 ms and one participant who left in the middle of the test for personal issues were deleted from the final data.

⁶ The reason why we told participants to complete a diagnostic test was as follows: first, the diagnostic information instead of article reading can avoid conflicting with further intervention materials in positive and multiple stereotypic identity groups; second, the priming method used in study 2 had been widely adopted and supported to be effective (e.g., Hess, Emery, & Queen, 2009).

⁷ Compared with study 1, study 2 improved task demands by shorten the learning time. Research suggested task demand may impact the effect of stereotype threat on memory performance (Hess et al., 2009). Older adults subjected to threat performed worse when task constraints were high than those confronted with lower task constraints. Thus, in order to worsening stereotype threat, the elderly were asked to learn those words within three minutes.