School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1TU, UK.
Cogn Res Princ Implic. 2021 Dec 11;6(1):77. doi: 10.1186/s41235-021-00334-w.
Human memory is malleable by both social and motivational factors and holds information relevant to workplace decisions. Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) describes a phenomenon where retrieval practice impairs subsequent memory for related (unpracticed) information. We report two RIF experiments. Chinese participants received a mild self-threat manipulation (Experiment 2) or not (Experiment 1) before an ethnicity-RIF task that involved practicing negative traits of either in-group (Chinese) or an out-group (Japanese) target. After a subsequent memory test, participants selected their preferred applicant for employment. RIF scores correspond to forgetting of unpracticed positive traits of one target (Rp-) relative to the recall of practiced negative traits of the other target (Rp+). Enhanced forgetting of positive traits was found in both experiments for both targets. Across experiments, a significant target by threat interaction showed that target ethnicity modified RIF (an ethnicity-RIF effect). Inducing a self-protecting motivation enhanced RIF effects for the out-group (Japanese) target. In a subsequent employment decision, there was a strong bias to select the in-group target, with the confidence in these decisions being associated with RIF scores. This study suggests that rehearsing negative traits of minority applicants can affect metacognitive aspects of employment decisions, possibly by shaping the schemas available to the majority (in-group) employer. To disrupt systemic racism, recruitment practices should aim to offset a human motivation to protect one-self, when exposed to a relatively mild threat to self-esteem. Discussing the negative traits of minority applicants is a critical, and sensitive, aspect of decision-making that warrants careful practice. These data suggest that recruiting individuals should be reminded of their personal strengths in this context, not their vulnerabilities, to secure their decision-making for fairer recruitment practice.
人类的记忆可以通过社会和动机因素进行塑造，并保存与工作场所决策相关的信息。检索诱发遗忘（Retrieval-Induced Forgetting，RIF）描述了一种现象，即检索练习会损害对相关（未练习）信息的后续记忆。我们报告了两个 RIF 实验。中国参与者在进行涉及练习内群体（中国人）或外群体（日本人）目标的负面特征的种族 RIF 任务之前，接受了轻度的自我威胁操纵（实验 2）或未接受（实验 1）。在随后的记忆测试后，参与者选择他们喜欢的就业申请人。RIF 分数对应于相对于对另一个目标的实践负面特征的回忆，对未实践的积极特征的遗忘（Rp-）。在两个实验中，对于两个目标，都发现了积极特征的增强遗忘。在整个实验中，显著的目标与威胁的相互作用表明目标种族改变了 RIF（种族 RIF 效应）。激发自我保护动机增强了对外群体（日本人）目标的 RIF 效应。在随后的就业决策中，存在强烈的选择内群体目标的偏见，对这些决策的信心与 RIF 分数相关。这项研究表明，练习少数申请人的负面特征可能会影响就业决策的元认知方面，可能是通过塑造大多数（内群体）雇主可用的模式。为了打破系统性种族主义，招聘实践应该旨在抵消当暴露于相对轻度的自尊威胁时人类自我保护的动机。讨论少数申请人的负面特征是决策的一个关键且敏感的方面，需要谨慎练习。这些数据表明，在这种情况下，招聘人员应该提醒他们注意自己的个人优势，而不是自己的弱点，以确保他们的决策更公平地进行招聘实践。
