儀式型行為的認知體現化效果

Abstract

過去探討儀式型行為（ritual behaviors）對於行為表現的研究大多屬於社會學或運動心理學的範疇，直至近十年社會心理學透過實驗法開始進行量化的研究。儀式型行為能提升作業表現不僅限於運動場域中，近期的心理學研究也發現其有助於調節個體的情緒及測驗表現。雖然儀式型行為能帶來益處已是研究者的共識，但其運作的相關心理機制仍有待釐清，所採用的研究設計也尚未有一致的看法。本研究則認為儀式型行為會造成知體現化效果，使得個體進入一個蓄勢待發（readiness）的心理狀態，進而提升個體在目標作業上的表現。在前測中我們首先檢測過去實驗設計中所使用的不同種類的控制組，亦即隨機行為組與等待組，並挑選合適的組別作為正式研究的控制組。52位參與者被隨機分派至兩組進行操弄並比較兩組在中介變項上的得分，最後選擇隨機行為組做為正式研究之控制組。正式研究則有111位參與者參與研究，隨機分派至儀式型行為組、想像組、感知控制組，或隨機行為組來檢驗從事儀式型行為是否能引發參與者的蓄勢待發狀態，進而提升數學測驗的表現。研究結果大致符合預期，從事儀式型行為的參與者不僅在蓄勢待發感受和感知控制感之得分明顯較其他組別高，同時在數學作業的表現也明顯較其他各組好；最後中介分析的結果則進一步顯示，蓄勢待發狀態確實部分中介了儀式型行為對於個體在數學上的表現，而感知控制感則非一個有效的中介變項。

Most of the early research on the influence of ritual behaviors on behavioral performance has been in the scope of sociology or sports psychology, and until recent years it is investigated experimentally by social psychologists. In addition to improving athletic performance, recent research has shown that enacting ritual behaviors not only helps regulate emotions, but also enhance task performance. However, the underlying psychological mechanism of ritual behaviors remains unclear. In this study, we proposed that enacting ritual behaviors can induce embodiment effect, which makes individuals enter a state of readiness, and therefore improve performances.\n\nIn the pilot study, we tested the different types of control groups used in previous research, namely the random behavior group and the waiting group, and selected one of them as the control group. 52 participants were randomly assigned to these two groups and the result indicated that the random behavior group is the most appropriate control group. In the main study, 111 participants were randomly assigned to the ritual behavior group, the imaginary group, the perceived control group, or the random behavior group to evaluate whether engaging in ritual behaviors could induce the participants` state of “readiness”, which in turn improved performance on math. The result showed that participant who enacted ritual behaviors not only got higher scores on state of “readiness” and perceived control, but performed better on the math test than those in other groups. The results of the mediation analysis further showed that the state of readiness did partially mediate the influence of the ritual behavior on the math performance, while the perceived control was not an effective mediating variable.