Řada studií prokázala, že aktivace určitého sociálního stereotypu může ovlivnit následující výkon. Cílem naší studie bylo zjistit, zda aktivace stereotypu posluchače určitého hudebního žánru může ovlivnit mentální výkon, učení cizích slov. V prvním experimentu bylo zjištěno, že preference žánru klasická hudba je stereotypně spojena s představou vyšší inteligence a výkonnosti ve srovnání se stereotypem posluchače techna. V druhém experimentu byl před testem učení cizích slov aktivován stereotyp posluchače klasické hudby nebo techna. Výsledky ukázaly, že aktivace stereotypu posluchače klasické hudby vede k mírně lepším výsledkům testu ve srovnání se stereotypem posluchače techna. and Musical fan’s stereotypes activation and mental performance
Objectives. The goal of the study was to investigate an effect of activation of musical fans stereotypes on a mental performance – learning words in a foreign language. In Experiment 1 stereotypical association of fans of classical music, jazz, techno, heavy metal, rap, and punk with the traits intelligence and efficiency were investigated. In Experiment 2 an effect of stereotype activation of fans of certain musical genres on mental task was studied.
Subjects and setting. 63 subjects (32 females) aged 20-22 years took part in Experiment 1. They were asked to indicate on 7-point Likert scale the level of perceived intelligence and efficacy of listeners of particular musical genres. 88 subjects (56 females) aged 19-22 years took part in Experiment 2. First, slides with typical forms of behaviors of classical music or techno musicians and listeners in a course of a concert were presented. Further, subjects were asked to write down a short report about these typical forms of behavior. Next, during six minutes period subjects were asked to learn twenty Latin words. Finally, they were tested from their knowledge.
Hypotheses. Since the stereotype of classical music listener use to be associated with intelligence we supposed that activation of this stereotype prior to the mental task would result in a better performance in contrast to activation of techno music fan stereotype. Statistical analysis. In the first experiment 6 (musical genre) x 2 (gender) ANOVA revealed the significant effect of musical genre on perceived intelligence and efficiency. In the second experiment 2 (stereotypes of classical music vs. techno) x 2 (gender) ANOVA revealed the significant effect of the type of stereotype activation, on performance in the mental task. Results. Experiment 1 showed that the highest scores of perceived intelligence were associated with listeners of classical music and jazz, while the lowest score with fans of techno. In perceived efficiency the highest scores were combined with listeners of classical music and jazz, while fans of techno and rap had the lowest scores. Thus, in Experiment 2 the stereotypes of listeners of classical music and techno were employed. Results indicated that the activation of stereotype of classical music listeners prior to mental task resulted in a slightly better score in the test of learning foreign words compared to activation of the stereotype of techno fans.
Study limitation. The differences between various forms of stereotype priming and their effects on performance were discussed.