The setting effect of social psychological effects

Please look at this question: A public security chief was talking to an old man on the roadside. At this time, a child ran over and said to the public security chief hastily: "Your father and my father are arguing. The old man asked: "Who is this child to you?" The police chief said: "He is my son." Please answer: What is the relationship between these two quarrels and the police chief?

Only two of the 100 subjects answered this question correctly! Later, this question was asked to a family of three. The parents did not answer correctly, but the child quickly answered: "The director is a woman. One of the quarrels was the director's husband, the child's father; the other was the director's father, the child's grandfather. "Why are so many adults not as good at answering such simple questions as children? This is the stereotype effect: according to adult experience, the police chief should be a male. If you extrapolate from the psychological stereotype of a male chief, you will naturally not be able to find the answer; but children have no experience in this area, so they have no psychological stereotype. limitations, so the correct answer was found immediately.

Mental set refers to the state of preparation for a specific activity. It can enable us to be quite proficient in certain activities or even achieve automation, which can save a lot of time and energy; but at the same time, The existence of mental stereotypes will also constrain our thinking, causing us to only use conventional methods to solve problems without seeking to use other "shortcuts" to break through. Therefore, it will also have some negative effects on solving problems. The experiment at the beginning of the article is one Great example. }

Not only will the stereotype effect appear when thinking and solving problems, but it will also be affected by the psychological stereotype in the process of understanding and interacting with others.

Soviet psychologists once conducted such a classic experiment on "mental setting": the researchers showed the same photo to two groups of college students participating in the experiment, but before showing the photo, the first One group of students said: This person is an evil criminal; the second group of students said: This person is a great scientist. Then he asked both groups of students to describe in words what the person in the photo looked like.

The description of the first group of students is: the deep-set eyes show that he is full of hatred in his heart, and the protruding chin proves his determination to follow the criminal path to the end...

The second group The description is: the deep-set eyes show the depth of the person's thoughts, and the protruding chin shows the person's will to overcome difficulties on the road of understanding...

The evaluation of the same person is only based on the previous information about the person. The hints about this person's identity were different, and there was such a dramatic gap in the descriptions obtained. This shows that psychological stereotypes have a huge impact on people's understanding process! Stereotype

I once saw such a joke on a website: If there is an angry Chongqing girl in front of you and an abyss behind you, then I advise you to jump back! This joke cannot be said to be without some truth. Chongqing girls can be said to be "famous" for their shrewdness. Therefore, when it comes to Chongqing girls, the first thing that comes to mind is the word "sharp", regardless of whether there is "severe" in it. Exception", this is called "stereotype".

Stereotype refers to a relatively fixed, general and general view that people have about a certain type of people or things. It is a fairly common phenomenon that often occurs when we get to know others. We often hear people say that "Changsha girls are hard to get along with, their faces are like peach blossoms and their hearts are like knives", and that Northeastern girls "would rather be hungry than beautiful", these are actually "stereotypes".

The formation of stereotypes is mainly due to the fact that in the process of interpersonal communication, we do not have the time and energy to have in-depth interactions with every member of a certain group, but can only interact with some of the members. Therefore, we can only "infer the whole from the part" and the "whole" of this group from the parts we come into contact with.

Once a stereotype is formed, it is difficult to change. Therefore, the impact of stereotypes must be considered in daily life. For example, when a market research company recruits interviewers for household surveys, it should generally Choose women instead of men, because in people's minds, women are generally kinder, less aggressive, and weaker, so home visits pose less of a threat to the owner; while men, especially those who are physically stronger If strong men ask for a home visit, they are easily rejected, because they are more likely to remind people of a series of things related to violence and attack, which will make people increase their defensive psychology.

“Birds of a feather flock together, and people divide into groups.” People who live in the same area, engage in the same occupation, and belong to the same race will always have some very similar characteristics. Therefore, stereotypes are generally said It still makes sense. However, "people's hearts are different, and each has its own face." After all, stereotypes are only a general and general view and cannot replace living individuals. Therefore, the error of "generalizing by partiality" is always inevitable. If you don't understand this, when interacting with people, you "only rely on stereotypes", like the Zheng people who "cut their feet to fit the shoes", and would rather believe in stereotypes as "size" than their own personal experience, and they will make mistakes. , leading to the failure of interpersonal communication, will naturally not help us achieve success.