A Theoretical And Empirical Research On Implicit Collective Self-esteem Of Soldiers

By now, implicit self-esteem and collective self-esteem have become two hot and central topics in the research on self-esteem of the psychology circle. However, few scholars have paid attention to the implicit collective self-esteem. In the military sector, it remains doubtful as to whether collective honor and team spirit of soldiers also exist at the subconscious level. Under this context, this dissertation summarized relevant theories and methodologies, and carried out exploratory study on the implicit collective self-esteem of soldiers by integrating behaviors, information processing and the neural mechanism.In the theories section, the author reviewed relevant theories and introduced relevant methods, and mainly described the definition of implicit collective self-esteem of soldiers, the measurements and technologies of social cognitive neuroscience, and the advancement of self-esteem, the advancement of collective self-esteem,the advancement of implicit self-esteem. On the basis of systematic analyses and integration, the author presented the structure of the dissertation.In the demonstration section, GNAT, EAST, ERP technology, collective self-esteem scale were applied together. The present research explored different dimensions of implicit collective self-esteem effect, the reliability and validity of measurements of implicit collective self-esteem, the relationship between implicit collective self-esteem and explicit collective self-esteem, implicit attitude toward in-group and out-group, the effects of team honor and group size on implicit collective self-esteem, and biological mechanism of implicit collective self-esteem. The legitimacy of all kinds of experimental methods were examined and improved.Study 1 was intended to investigate the implicit collective self-esteem of soldiers from the dimension of importance to identity. Behavioral data of soldiers, who were divided into high-honor group and low-honor group, was recorded by GNAT (Go/No-go Association Task) In the dimension of importance to identity, soldiers showed the implicit collective self-esteem effect. Group size and team honor played regulatory roles in the implicit self-esteem of soldiers.Study 2 was intended to verify whether the implicit collective self-esteem effect exists by investigating the soldiers'attitudes towards in-group and out-group. Behavioral data of soldiers was recorded by GNAT. The implicit attitude of soldiers towards army was positive, which reflected the implicit collective self-esteem effect, while the implicit attitude towards non-army group was nearly indifferent, which showed that the implicit collective self-esteem was not based on debasing out-group.Study 3 examined the relationship between implicit collective self-esteem and explicit collective self-esteem on empirical basis by means of cross validation by multiple approaches, including the Go/ No-go Association Task (GNAT) and the Extrinsic Affect Simon Task (EAST). Both approaches were able to detect implicit collective self-esteem effect. As the results have revealed, implicit collective self-esteem and explicit collective self-esteem have different structure and feature very low positive correlation.In study 4,implicit collective self-esteem of soldiers was measured by simultaneous recording of GNAT and ERP (event-related potential) data. The GNAT data showed that a significant difference was observed in both discriminability (d') and reaction time under the two different task conditions, which provided evidence for the soldiers'implicit collective self-esteem. Obvious P300 was evoked and the main effects of task conditions and electrode positions on P300 were evident. In the present study, the two task conditions activated several neural substrates at different activation degrees, which reflected the neural mechanism of the implicit professional self-esteem effect.Section three gave general discussion about experimental results, integrating the experimental results of the four studies to attain global consideration and providing reference for the use and improvement of new methods.Section four presented research conclusion and outlook for the future, explained the theoretical significance and practical value of the research, analyzed the innovation and limitations of the research and gave advices on the development of implicit collective self-esteem research.