A Research On Chinese College Students’ Stereotypes Toward The British

The stereotype is a significant area of research within the field of Social Psychology and Communication.As a universal cognitive phenomenon,the stereotype will have an impact on the subjects’ willingness to communicate and their behavioral tendencies in the process of interpersonal communication,especially intercultural communication.There have been empirical studies aiming at investigating the stereotypes of other nations in Chinese minds,but the existing literature on this topic remains limited.In view of this,the thesis employs the quantitative method combined with the qualitative approach with the help of the online questionnaire and case interview.Under the guidance of the BIAS-Map theory,the study explores the contents of stereotypes of the British,behavioral tendencies of the Chinese college students,sources and influencing factors of stereotypes of the British people.All research subjects of the study were chosen from universities and colleges around China.Firstly,the pre-survey collected 150 valid samples with a purpose to make the stereotype rating scale.Secondly,the formal survey collected 506 valid samples,and finally,10 additional interviews were conducted to enrich the study.After data processing and content analysis,the major findings of the study are:First,Chinese college students hold quite favorable ideas about the British on the whole.Although there’s a prevailing opinion in the West that the British are cold and indifferent,it seems the majority of Chinese college students are not affected by this view.Moreover,the stereotypical images of the British in students’ eyes could be organized into five factors,which are respectively referred to as “Elegant Demeanor”,“Extrovert Personality”,“Restrained Temperament”,“Impassive Personality” and“Good Appearance”.Among all the five factors,participants have less consensus on the factor of “Impassive Personality”.Second,in the eyes of current Chinese college students,the British could be categorized into a social group with high competence and high warmth(HC-HW group),the most common sentiment towards the British is somewhat bordering on admiration,and their behavioral responses toward the British are centered on the level of facilitation.The above results are perfectly consistent with the predictions of BIAS-Map theory.Third,in general,neither the demographic variable of gender nor major takes significant effects in the aspects of cognition,emotion,and behavior,though they do show statistical significance on several factors of cognition and behavior.For instance,as for general cognition,males always score higher than females in evaluating the degree of integrity of the British.With respect to behavior,English majors are more willing to lend a helping hand to the British than non-English majors.Fourth,media is undoubtedly a significant source of stereotype formation and transformation,some factors related to media use,such as the frequency,duration of contacting British information,the form,contents,and credibility of media do have impacts on people’s cognition,emotion,and behavior.However,such impacts of media use occur in a long-term and subtle way.Nevertheless,new media,with its intelligent recommendation rules,is able to maximize those impacts by pushing a homogeneous information flow to users.Fifth,the formation of stereotypes toward members with other cultural backgrounds is affected by multiple factors.Although the media has unparalleled advantages and power in transmitting information and even fragments of culture,it is not a decisive factor.International relations,group influences,and personal experiences of intercultural communication also play important roles in the formation of stereotypes.