The Development of discriminatory perception of junior high school students and influence on the cooperative behaviour of internal and external groups

Abstract

This article reveals the influence of discrimination perception on junior high school students' cooperative tendency and behavior through two studies. Study 1 uses a questionnaire method to conduct a one-year follow-up of 752 junior high school students, and uses latent variable cross-lagged structural equation model to analyze the longitudinal predictive relationship between discrimination perception and cooperative tendency; In study 2, the dynamic public goods dilemma experiment was used to investigate the influence of discrimination perception on cooperative behavior and the moderating effect of group type. The results show that: (1) there is a significant negative correlation between discrimination perception and cooperation tendency of junior high school students; T1 cooperation tendency can negatively predict T2 discrimination perception, and T2 discrimination perception can negatively predict T3 cooperation tendency; (2) In the first three rounds of investment ratio and contribution rate of public goods dilemma, the interaction effect between discrimination perception and group type is significant; In the last three rounds, only the main effect of discrimination perception on investment ratio and contribution rate, and the main effect of group type on contribution rate were found. The above results show that there is a vertical spiral effect between discrimination perception and cooperation tendency; The influence of discrimination perception on early cooperative behavior is regulated by group type, but with the extension of interaction time, the moderating effect disappears.