Schema Priming Effect Of Family Interpersonal Structure

Currently,most of the family forms in China have changed from the traditional extended family style to a nuclear family consisting of parents and their unmarried children.Among them,three actors,parents and children,form a triad(Tradic relations)between them,which is the simplest,most important and essential micro social structural unit of human society.It has been found that there are differences in people’s social structure balance preferences in different cultural contexts between East and West.Western subjects prefer a linear structure,i.e.,a linear transmission structure consisting of A →B,B → C and A →C,while Chinese subjects prefer a circular transmission structure consisting of A→B,B→C and C→A.So,do Chinese subjects also show a ring structure processing advantage for the structure composed of parent-son triads? This question involves the study of structural characteristics of family interpersonal schemas and is also related to the cultural nature of family structural balance,which has certain theoretical and practical implications.In order to investigate whether there is a schema priming effect in the interpersonal structure of circular families and whether abstract graphics can promote individual cognitive efficiency,this study uses a variation of the residual word-completion priming paradigm to explore the above two questions through three behavioral studies.In the study 1,in order to investigate the type of complex graphic family interpersonal structure with priming effect,42 subjects were randomly recruited,and a three-factor within-subjects design of 2(type of structure: circular vs.linear)× 2(type of triangle: positive vs.inverted triangle)× 3(roles at both ends of the horizontal line: father-mother vs.father-child vs.mother-child)was used to compare subjects’ reaction times under different conditions.The results showed that:(1)when the “father-mother-child” figure formed an inverted triangle,the reaction times of the subjects were significantly shorter than that of the positive triangle;(2)when the roles at both ends of the horizontal line were parents,the reaction times of the subjects were significantly shorter than that of the roles at both ends of the horizontal line were fathers and children;(3)there was no significant difference between the reaction times of the subjects to the circular family interpersonal structure and the linear family interpersonal structure.significantly different.This suggests that the family interpersonal structure of inverted triangular with parents at the same level has a schema priming effect.In the Study 2,the experimental material was abstracted in order to explore the type of simple graphical family interpersonal structure with priming effects.Because of the large body of research showing the cognitive facilitative effects of inverted triangles,Study 2 used a two-factor within-subjects design of 2(type of structure: circular vs.linear)× 3(roles at either end of the horizontal line: father-mother vs.father-child vs.mother-child),with 42 subjects randomly recruited to compare subjects’ reaction times when responding under different conditions.The results showed that(1)the reaction times of subjects with the circular family interpersonal structure was significantly shorter than that of linear family interpersonal structure,and(2)subjects’ reaction times were significantly shorter when the roles at both ends of the horizontal line were parents than when the roles at both ends of the horizontal line were mothers and children.This suggests that the family interpersonal structure of cyclicity with parents at the same level has a schema-priming effect.In the study 3,in order to investigate the type of abstract graphical family interpersonal structure with initiation effects,the experimental material was abstracted again,and a two-factor within-subjects design of 2(type of structure: circular vs.linear)× 3(roles at either end of the horizontal line: father-mother vs.father-child vs.mother-child)was used to randomly recruit 42 subjects to compare the subjects’ reaction times under different conditions.The results showed that(1)the reaction times of subjects with the circular family interpersonal structure were significantly shorter than that of linear family interpersonal structure,and(2)subjects’ reaction times were significantly shorter when the roles at both ends of the horizontal line were parents than when the roles at both ends of the horizontal line were fathers and children.This suggests that the circular family interpersonal structure with parents at the same level has a schema-priming effect again.In summary,a longitudinal comparison of the three studies was conducted to explore whether abstract graphics can facilitate individuals’ cognition.The result was that subjects in Study 2 and 3 had shorter reaction times compared to the figure graphics in Study 1.The circular family interpersonal structure with roles of parents at both ends of the horizontal line has a graphical priming effect,and graphs with a high level of abstraction can promote individuals’ cognitive efficiency.