Abstract: As one of the basic characteristics of all interpersonal relationships, relationship closeness is conceptualized as the degree of mutual depending and understanding between communicators. The present study explored the influence of relationship closeness (i.e., stranger or friend) on the communication of stereotype-consistent (SC) and stereotype-inconsistent (SI) information in the conversational reproduction of narratives. Relationship closeness was constructed by the naturalistically existing pattern (Experiment 1) or the laboratory-induced pattern (Experiment 2). Across the two studies, people were consistently observed to conversationally transmit more SC information than SI information in general. However, the result could change as relationship closeness changed. When tellers orally communicated the story to their stranger partner, their reproductions of the stories showed a significantly larger SC bias. However, when tellers orally communicated the story to their friend relationship partner, their reproductions of the stories did not show an SC bias and they even communicated slightly more SI information. Our results revealed the importance of considering the specific nature of the social communication context when investigating the interpersonal communication of stereotypes.

Key words: relationship closeness, stereotype-consistent (SC) information, stereotype-inconsistent (SI) information, conversational communication

摘要： 刻板印象信息常借助人际关系链得以沟通和传递。而沟通是一种社会情境活动，故人们对信息的沟通和传递依赖于沟通的社会背景，关系亲密度是其中的一个重要因素。关系亲密度指的是沟通者间相互依赖和了解的程度，以自我包含他人量表得分作为判断指标。本研究的目的即为扩展已有的刻板印象沟通研究，采用Ruscher等人提出的二人对话范式，通过两个实验探索关系亲密度如何影响人们在谈话过程中对刻板印象相关信息的沟通和传递。实验1中的关系亲密度由自然存在模式建构，共32对同性别被试参与；实验2中的关系亲密度由RCIT三阶段自我表露任务实验室诱发模式建构，共38对同性别被试参与。所用的沟通材料均为Klein 等 人编制的刻板印象信息故事，并使用自我包含他人量表检核关系亲密度。实验均为2×2×2三因素混合设计，其中，关系亲密度（陌生人和朋友）为被试间因素，刻板印象信息的一致性（SC一致信息与SI不一致信息）和故事情节的核心性（核心和次要）为被试内因素。在实验1中，三因素方差分析的结果显示，刻板印象信息的一致性主效应显著，核心性主效应显著，刻板印象信息的一致性和关系亲密度的交互作用显著。在陌生人关系条件下，被试传递的 SC 信息显著多于 SI 信息；而在朋友关系条件下，被试并没有显示出这种SC偏差，反而传递了稍多的SI信息。在实验2中，三因素方差分析的结果显示，刻板印象信息的一致性主效应边缘显著，核心性主效应显著，刻板印象信息的一致性和关系亲密度的交互作用显著。在陌生人关系条件下，被试传递的SC信息显著多于 SI 信息；而在朋友关系条件下，被试并没有显示出SC偏差，同样传递了稍多的SI信息。因此，可以认为人们倾向于向陌生人传递显著更多的刻板印象一致信息，而向朋友则未显示出这种特点。谈话中，关系亲密度影响刻板印象信息的沟通和传递。

关键词: relationship closeness, stereotype-consistent (SC) information, stereotype-inconsistent (SI) information, conversational communication