van Tilburg Wijnand A P, Saadi Amina, Mahadevan Nikhila
Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.
Department of Psychology, King's College London, London, UK.
Br J Soc Psychol. 2021 Jul;60(3):888-901. doi: 10.1111/bjso.12433. Epub 2020 Dec 18.
Passing the Life in the UK Test is an essential requirement for those who seek UK citizenship. This citizenship test, attempted around 150,000 times per year, has incurred criticism for its content and difficulty, and for its role in causing psychological distress. We examined, among a representative adult UK population, people's reactions to this important instrument. Results showed that two-thirds (66.4%) of UK residents, most of whom held citizenship, failed their own countries' citizenship test. Participants on the right (vs. left) of the political and ideological spectrum were more likely to overestimate their own performance and demand higher performance from immigrants than left-leaning voters, even though these voters' actual performance did not differ. Strikingly, completing the Life in the UK Test caused participants to subsequently endorse milder test requirements, a finding that generalized well across political ideology and voter categories. Initial overconfidence in one's own test performance mediated this change in attitudes. Results suggest that support for improving the Life in the UK Test can be garnered across the political spectrum by confronting people with the content of this life-changing tool.
通过“英国生活测试”是那些寻求英国公民身份的人的一项基本要求。这项公民测试每年约有15万次尝试，因其内容、难度以及在造成心理困扰方面所起的作用而受到批评。我们在具有代表性的英国成年人群体中，研究了人们对这一重要测试的反应。结果显示，三分之二（66.4%）的英国居民（其中大多数持有公民身份）未能通过他们自己国家的公民测试。在政治和意识形态光谱右侧（相对于左侧）的参与者比左倾选民更有可能高估自己的表现，并对移民提出更高的表现要求，尽管这些选民的实际表现并无差异。引人注目的是，完成“英国生活测试”后，参与者随后会支持更宽松的测试要求，这一发现广泛适用于各种政治意识形态和选民类别。对自己测试表现的最初过度自信介导了这种态度的转变。结果表明，通过让人们面对这个改变人生的工具的内容，可以在整个政治光谱中获得对改进“英国生活测试”的支持。
