The emotional response of online stereotype: a word embedding analysis based on ‘full-time children’ texts in China

Based on the Stereotype Content Model, this study employs word embedding technology to analyze texts from Zhihu and Xiaohongshu related to full-time children, exploring the emotional response characteristics along the dual dimensions of Competence and Warmth in the online stereotype of full-time children. By constructing mixed emotional indicators and applying Welch’s analysis of variance, this study finds that: (1) When full-time children are described with low-competence traits, they receive more positive explicit emotional responses; (2) high-warmth traits significantly enhance positive implicit emotional responses through semantically associated emotions; (3) the results of mixed emotional responses reveal a coexistence pattern of explicit and implicit emotional reactions toward the ‘full-time children’ image group in comment texts. This study reveals the complexity of people’s stereotypes in online contexts and highlights the real predicaments faced by contemporary youth groups in China.