Currently due to the COVID-19 pandemic, young people are experiencing a decrease in self-efficacy and an increase in mental illness. Though previous studies have shown that self-efficacy and divergent thinking training are positively related, little is known about the impact of divergent thinking training on self-efficacy and emotions. Therefore, our study seeks this answer to support teenagers injured psychologically during disastrous periods. We randomly assigned 70 students to a 2 × 2 mixed design. Participants in the experimental group were given (...) a 9-day divergent thinking training with the theme of “writing down 10 novel functions of the mask,” while those in the control group spent 10 min each day recording what they ate. The self-efficacy, anxiety, depression, and stress of two groups were measured before and after training. Results showed that, compared to the control group, self-efficacy ceased decreasing while anxiety decreased for the experimental group. These findings confirm the positive effect of divergent thinking on teenagers. Implications and limitations are discussed. (shrink)

Targeting people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus, this research examined the prevalence of space-focused stereotypes and their underlying mechanism on behavioral inclinations. Study 1 adopted the explicit nomination and implicit Go/No-Go association tests to explore the existence of space-focused stereotypes of people living with HIV/AIDS. The results demonstrated that space-focused stereotypes were only manifested explicitly with characteristics such as messy, dirty, and gloomy. Study 2 demonstrated a more negative evaluation and community-approaching willingness for communities that include people living with HIV/AIDS (...) than those without HIV/AIDS. Additionally, space-focused stereotypes were found to have an indirect influence on community-approaching willingness; the influence was mediated by both emotional and cognitive factors. These results indicate the deviation of explicit and implicit space-focused stereotypes. More importantly, it revealed that space-focused stereotypes decreased community evaluation and influenced behavioral inclination. This research suggested the existence of space-focused stereotypes on another stigmatized social group. Characteristics of space might be the key to forming space-focused stereotypes. (shrink)