| China has been a multi-ethnic country since ancient times,with the focus on promoting communication and integration among all ethnic groups,improving ethnic relations,and promoting the psychological integration of members of all ethnic groups.Ethnic psychological integration refers to a psychological preparation state in which ethnic groups accept each other and can coexist harmoniously,which is a deep level of communication and interaction between different ethnic groups.Teenagers are the hope and main force of ethnic relations,and a strong youth leads to a strong country.The theory of intergroup contact suggests that under the four conditions of equal status,common goals,mutual cooperation,and institutional support,mutual contact between members of different ethnic groups or groups can promote positive intergroup attitudes and reduce intergroup bias.Since the introduction of the theory of inter group contact,it has been considered the most widely used psychological intervention measure to improve ethnic relations and reduce inter group bias.Many previous studies have demonstrated at both explicit and implicit levels that inter group contact can have a positive impact on group attitudes,increasing future willingness to engage and behavioral intentions.However,in real life,there are certain limitations to direct contact,such as extreme isolation in social situations,and there are no opportunities for actual contact and extended contact in extremely isolated social environments.Therefore,foreign scholars have proposed imaginative contact on this basis.Imaginary contact refers to simulating positive interactions with external group members psychologically,which can improve inter group attitudes,increase inter group trust,reduce inter group bias,and promote positive group relationships.The proposal of this theory is a supplement to the theory of intergroup contact,and also a further improvement and development of the theory of intergroup contact;And it has great advantages in improving group attitudes and reducing bias towards external groups.Research has shown that mere imaginative contact can improve group attitudes.Crisp conducted a meta-analysis of over 70 empirical cases of imaginative exposure reducing intergroup bias,using four variables: intergroup emotion,attitude,willingness,and behavior as key indicators to measure intergroup bias.The results showed that imaginative exposure can reduce intergroup bias at both explicit and implicit levels.Therefore,this study selected middle school students from the mainland of China,with Uyghur peers of the same age as the target group,to explore the impact of imaginative contact on the integration of explicit and implicit psychology and the psychological impact mechanism through two experiments.In Experiment 1,a single factor inter subject experimental design method was used,with imaginative contact as the independent variable(imagining pleasant interactions with peers of the same age Uyghur ethnic group,imagining outdoor scenes),and psychological integration as the dependent variable.There are two sub experiments in Experiment 1,Experiment 1a and Experiment 1b.Experiment 1a measures the impact of imaginative contact on explicit psychological integration,while Experiment 1b measures the impact of imaginative contact on psychological integration at the implicit level.The measurement at the explicit level mainly relies on self-reported questionnaire surveys,which may be influenced by social approval,consciousness control,etc.,and the accuracy of the results is relatively low.Therefore,on the basis of Experiment 1a,Experiment 1b was further set up,using implicit association tests to effectively avoid the influence of human consciousness control and other factors,further supplementing and improving Experiment 1a,and also increasing the accuracy and effectiveness of Experiment 1a’s results from an implicit perspective.Experiment 2 was designed on the basis of Experiment 1,with the aim of exploring the psychological mechanisms that affect the dependent variable and whether there are mediating factors.The study in Experiment 1 found that both explicit and implicit aspects of imaginative contact have significant effects on psychological integration,that is,individuals who imagine positive interactions with Uyghur peers have higher psychological integration than those who only imagine outdoor scenes.The results of Experiment 2 prove that there is a significant negative correlation between intergroup anxiety and psychological integration,that is,imaginative contact promotes psychological integration by reducing intergroup anxiety,and intergroup anxiety also plays a mediating role.The research results of this study demonstrate the positive effects of imaginative contact.At the same time,it provides a scientific basis and practical path for the establishment of cross ethnic peer relationships and the development of cross ethnic friendship,and also provides new research ideas and methods for the realization of psychological integration. |
