Learning about persons: the effects of text structure and executive capacity on conceptual change

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the supportive effects of conceptual change texts documented in science education (1) can also be demonstrated in the domain of social cognition and (2) are moderated by the structure of the text and the learner’s central executive capacity. In two experiments, participants were presented with a series of short texts, each describing a target person in a stereotypical manner. The description was consistent with the stereotype in one half of the text, and the initially activated stereotype was refuted by stereotype-incongruent target information in the other half. In some of the inconsistent texts, the inconsistency was explained by additional information, or the readers were not given support for resolving the inconsistency. The results indicated an interaction of type of text and central executive capacity. Higher central executive capacity fostered conceptual change but only when the texts explained the inconsistency.