Stereotype Threat Effect On Self-concept

Stereotype threat refers to the feeling of threat that is induced when individuals are worried that their behavior might confirm a stereotype or a stigmatized social identity of their in-group and furtherly lead to underperformance in domain tasks.Numerous studies have shown the mechanisms of the underperformance in domain tasks under ST;these include reduced working memory capacity,negative thinking,arousal,suppression of negative emotions,mere effort,self-control and ego-depletion,as well as prevention focus.Moreover,some studies are also to investigate the intervening strategies that could improve the underperformance in domain tasks,such as cognitive appraisal of threat,selfaffirmation,identity safety,as well as teaching the subjects that stereotype threat could interfere with performance.According to social identification theory,self-concept derived from social identity and personal identity,which develop and maintain is the basic motivation for individuals.Social identification and self-categorization theory argue that self-concept is the accessible parts of whole self-description(knowledge content of self-concept)and selfevaluation(evaluation contents of self-concept)activated by the salient social identity under certain situation.Although individuals are motivated to pursuit personal and social identities,the salient social identities are not all positive.Therefore,individuals throughout their daily lives are bombed by the satiational cues that indcluding some negative stereotype of their ingroup,which can implicitly or explicitly their negative social or ingroup identity.Moreover,the social identity that is most salient to an individual in certain situation is oftern determined by the attitudes toward it in their socioculture.Moreover,self-construal theory also suggest that when the connections between self and group are salient,the self-construal is shift to the collective self-construal and the selfconcept is focused on these characteristics that make individials to be representative of their group.Considering the relationship between self-concept and social identity,collective self-construal we think that self-concept might be influenced by the negative ingroup identity and collective self-construal activated by stereotype threat.However,the relationship between stereotype threat and self-concept and the mechanism has not been clear by now.Therefore,we using the structural magnetic resonance imaging(s MRI),resting-state functional MRI(RS-f MRI)and task f MRI to investigate the elationship between stereotype threat and self-concept from the perspectives of behavior,morphology of brain,resting-state brain networks and patterns of brain activation.In the first study,we attempt to explore the relationship between stereotype threat and self-concept by using behavioral,RS-f MRI and s MRI experiments.In the behavioral experiment,we used the pre-post test of threat group and control group design to ask subjects complete the self-judgement task to investigate the relationship between stereotype threat and self-concept.Then,pre-post test of RS-f MRI experiment was used to investigate the brain networks of the relationship between stereotype threat and selfconcept by combining the results of behavioral experiment.Finally,voxel-based morphometry(VBM)was used to investigate brain structural basis of the relationship between stereotype threat and self-concept.The results showed that the knowledge contents of self-concept were influcned by stereotype threat,and the temporary consistency and stability of knowledge contents of self-concept were decreaed in under threat group relative to control group.Moreover,the relationship between stereotype threat and knowledge contents of self-concept was moderated by self-concept clarity,regional gray matter volume(r GMV)of amygdala,as well as the altered resting-state functional connectivity between rectus and supramarginal gyrus(brain regions of negative stereotype)(RSFC between rectus and SMG).Accroding to these results,we thought that the mechanism stereotype threat effect on self-concept might be related to interdependent self-construal based on the information of the negative stereotype of ingroup.In the second study,behavioral,RS-f MRI and s MRI were employed to explore the relationship between stereotype threat and evaluation contents of self-concept.In the RSf MRI and s MRI,VBM and resting-state brain network were used to investigate the stereotype threat on the brain networks of brain regions related positive self-evaluation.In the behavioral experiment,the stereotype threat effect on implicit and explicit selfevaluation was explored using implicit association test and Rosenberg self-esteem scale.The results showed that bilateral rectus and right antirior insular(AI)were related to positive self-evaluation and the resting-state brain networks of them were alterd by stereotype threat.Specifically,RSFC between rectus and anterior temporal lobe(ATL)was increased under stereotype threat,while RSFC between AI and ATL was decreased.The bebavioral results showed that implicit self-evaluation was decreaed under stereotype threat,while the explicit self-evaluation was not influenced by stereotype threat.According to these results,we thought that the decreaed implicit self-evaluation might be related to the negative ingroup identity activated by the stereotype threat information,while explicit self-evaluation might be influenced by the disidentification of ingroup stereotype,which made it not influenced by stereotype threat.In the third study,behavioral,task f MRI and RS-f MRI experiments were employed to investigate the effects of stereotype threat on self-reflection which might be potential cognitive processes of the relationship between stereotype threat effects on self-concept by using the classical self-relection task.Specifically,we first using the behavioral experiment to investigated the effects of stereotype threat on self-reflection.Then,the task f MRI was used to depict the patterns of brain activation when self-reflecting on personality traits under stereotype threat.Finally,the graph theory-based network used to analyze RS-f MRI degree centrality(RSDC)the brain regions that can account for the effects of stereotype threat on self-reflection based the results of task f MRI.The behavioral results showed that response time(RT)of self-reflection was longer under threat group than control group and the altered performance(posttest score of domain task minus the posttest score)could be predicted by the RT.The results of task f MRI showed that the activation brain regions related to self stimuli processing [dorsal medial prefrontal cortex(d MPFC),anterior(ACC)and posterior(PCC)cingulate cortex] and representation of social concept(stereotype)(ATL)were decreased in threat group relative to control group.The results of graph theory-based network analysis showed that the RT of self-reflection could be predicted by the altered RSDC in ATL for threat group,while RT of self-reflection could be predicted by the pretest RSDC in d MPFC for control group.According to these results,the longer RT for stereotype threat group might reflect that self-reflection depended on different self-ceoncept between stereotype threat and control groups.Specifically,self-reflection in stereotype threat group might rely on the self-ceoncept activated by the stereotype threat cues which might be represented in the ATL,while self-reflection in control group might rely on one's default self-ceoncept which might be represented in the d MPFC.Due to the positive relationship between RSDC of ATL and RT of self-reflection,the self-judgement might require to inhibit the influcne of newly formed self-reflection under stereotype threat.Based on the evidences of present study,self-concept was influenced by the stereotype threat,which can be seen from the stability and consistency of knowledge contents of self-concept altered by and positivity of evaluation contents of self-concept reduced by stereotype threat.The effects of stereotype threat on self-concept might related to the negative ingroup identity and collective self-construal activated by stereotype threat,cognitive neural mechanism might related to RSFC between rectus and ATL,RSFC between rectus and SMG,the individual difference in the structure of amygdala,as well as RSDC of ATL.In addition,the self-reflection was influenced by the altered selfconcept in the stereotype threat,which means that self-reflection was more difficualt due to inhibiting the influence of the altered self-concept under stereotype threat.The inhibition of the altered self-concept might be related to deactivation of self-processing brain regions,as well as RSDC altered in MTL.