Effects of meta-stereotype threat on working memory: the mechanisms of emotion and core self-evaluations

Scholarly evidence on how meta-stereotype threat affects working memory is still lacking. Therefore, this study conducted two experiments to investigate whether negative meta-stereotypes decreased working memory, focusing on the mediating role of emotion and the moderating role of core self-evaluations. Experiment 1 showed that activated negative meta-stereotypes could lead to lower positive emotions, higher negative emotions, and poorer working memory performance. In this context, negative meta-stereotypes affected working memory through reduced positive emotions. Experiment 2 confirmed the results of Experiment 1, showing that the adverse effects of meta-stereotype threat had more substantial effects on working memory in participants with high core self-evaluations. In contrast, such effects were weak in participants with low core self-evaluations. These findings expand on existing literature concerning how meta-stereotype threat affects working memory, mainly by providing new insights into the processes and conditions of the meta-stereotypes threat effect.