ISSN 0439-755X
CN 11-1911/B
主办:中国心理学会
   中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理学报 ›› 2021, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (4): 387-399.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2021.00387

• 研究报告 • 上一篇    下一篇

性别化名字对个体印象评价及人际交往的影响

佐斌1,2, 刘晨1,2, 温芳芳1,2(), 谭潇1, 谢志杰1   

  1. 1华中师范大学心理学院暨社会心理研究中心
    2青少年网络心理与行为教育部重点实验室, 武汉 430079
  • 收稿日期:2020-05-25 发布日期:2021-02-22 出版日期:2021-04-25
  • 通讯作者: 温芳芳 E-mail:wenff@mail.ccnu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    *国家社会科学基金重大项目(18ZDA331);*华中师范大学基本科研业务费项目(CCNU19ZN021)

The impact of gender orientation of names on individuals’ evaluation of impressions and interpersonal interaction

ZUO Bin1,2, LIU Chen1,2, WEN Fangfang1,2(), TAN Xiao1, XIE Zhijie1   

  1. 1School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Social Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
    2Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
  • Received:2020-05-25 Online:2021-02-22 Published:2021-04-25
  • Contact: WEN Fangfang E-mail:wenff@mail.ccnu.edu.cn

摘要:

名字在个体印象评价和人际交往中发挥着重要作用。本研究结合刻板印象内容模型, 从刻板印象维护视角出发, 通过3个研究考察了性别化名字的热情能力感知, 基于此探究性别化名字对不同性别个体的印象评价及人际交往的影响。结果发现:(1)人们对男性化名字的能力评价高于女性化名字, 对女性化名字的热情评价高于男性化名字; (2)性别化名字影响男性的能力评价和女性的热情评价; (3)性别化名字影响人们对女性的交友偏好, 热情评价在其中起到完全中介作用; 性别化名字影响人们和男性的共事偏好, 能力评价起到完全中介作用。研究揭示了性别化名字影响印象评价的模式, 并为理解人际交往中名字的作用机制提供了新的研究思路。

关键词: 性别化名字, 印象评价, 热情, 能力, 人际交往

Abstract:

People can infer personal traits from names and, thus, the impressions of an individual can be influenced by how others perceive his or her name. Previous research has found that people have a distinctive perception of masculine and feminine names. This raises an interesting question: How do people evaluate individuals with opposite gender-oriented names, and how will this evaluation affect interpersonal interaction based on the main two dimensions of social cognition (i.e., warmth and competence). To answer these questions, the first aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of warmth and competence of names within the Chinese context and examine the effects of an individual’s gender and name-gender orientation on impression formation. The second aim was to explore the behavioral aftereffects of evaluation of impressions based on individual’s names.
Four studies were conducted to explore the research questions. In Study 1, a total of 100 masculine and feminine names were presented to 176 undergraduate students who were asked to rate these names according to four traits: two traits for each dimension of warmth and competence. In Study 2, 121 undergraduate participants were presented with information about target genders and names. Participants were asked to rate these targets based on warmth and competence. In Study 3a, 136 undergraduate participants were presented with two targets that had masculine or feminine names within the context of imagining going on a trip with them. Furthermore, in Study 3b, 131 undergraduate participants were asked to imagine that they would meet two individuals with different names within the context of finishing a difficult task. Participants in Study 3a and Study 3b were then asked to evaluate these individuals based on their warmth and competence traits and choose one of them as their partner to complete the corresponding activities.
The results were as follows: (1) Feminine names were rated higher on warmth than masculine names, and masculine names were rated higher on competence than feminine names; (2) Individuals with gender-consistent names were considered to have the typical characteristics of their gender: women with feminine names were perceived as warmer than women with masculine names, and men with masculine names were perceived more competent than men with feminine names; (3) Individuals with gender-inconsistent names were considered to have the characteristics of the opposite sex: men with feminine names were perceived less competent than women with masculine names, whereas women with masculine names were perceived less warm than men with feminine names; (4) Participants intended to make friends with women whose names were consistent with their gender, and the perception of warmth completely mediated the effect of name-gender orientation on willingness to interact; and 5) Participants preferred to finish difficult tasks with men whose names were consistent with their gender, and the perception of competence completely mediated the effect of name gender orientation on willingness to cooperate.
This is the first study to explore how gender and name gender orientation affect individuals’ impressions by applying stereotype content in China. We examined the influence of name gender orientation on individuals’ perceptions about others, as well as their behavior intention and mechanism, from the perspective of the perceiver’s motivation. This study provides new theoretical explanations and empirical support for impression evaluation and interpersonal interaction based on names, and has important implications for future research on the social cognition of names. Further studies should explore the content of gender-ambiguous names and their effects on individuals’ impressions and behavioral aftereffects. The effects of emotional and cognitive processes on names and interpersonal interaction should also be assessed.

Key words: gender orientation of names, impression evaluation, warmth, competence, interpersonal interaction.

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