Stereotypes We Can Not Forget: The Effect of Disciplinary Priming and Memory Instructions on Recognition Errors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/by949635Keywords:
False memory, stereotype, memory instruction, psychological stigma, semantic priming, DRM paradigm.Abstract
This study was a replication experiment to explore the effects of priming type, memory instruction, and vocabulary type on false memory. The main research hypothesis was under psychological priming conditions, forgetting instructions significantly increased the false recognition rate of words. The experiment recruited 24 undergraduate students. It adopted a 2 (priming type: psychological priming vs. neutral priming) × 2 (instruction: remember vs. forget) × 2 (vocabulary type: stereotype-consistent vs. non-stereotype) mixed design. Participants completed vocabulary learning and recognition tasks, and the data were analyzed by 2×2×2 mixed ANOVA, with the dependent variable being the false recognition rate of words. The experimental results showed that under psychological priming conditions, forgetting instructions significantly increased the false recognition rate of words (H3), while this effect was not observed under neutral conditions (H4). Contrary to expectations, the experimental results found that non-stereotype words were more likely to be misrecognized. The triple interaction was not significant. The results showed that subjects might activate defense mechanisms of memory processing in specific socio-semantic contexts. Based on the research on stereotype-induced false memory, this experiment studied the influence of specific context on false memories in the context of new disciplinary stigma, broadened the understanding of memory processing mechanisms.
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