Collaborative Research: Investigating Underlying Mechanisms and Behavioral Consequences of Emotion-Induced Implicit Prejudice

Northeastern University, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this collaborative research project is to examine the conditions under which incidental emotions exacerbate intergroup prejudice, stereotyping, and discriminatory behavior. In the intergroup context, incidental emotions refer to affective states that individuals may be experiencing immediately before they encounter outgroup members and whose evocation is unrelated to these groups. As such, these states are different from integral emotions, which refer to affective states that are directly evoked by an outgroup when people reflect on or encounter them. The investigators propose a theoretical model that specifies selective attention as the most likely mediator between incidental emotion and subsequent bias in judgments and action. The primary goal of the present proposal is to test the veracity of the proposed model in three sets of studies. The first set of studies examines the selective attention hypothesis. These studies examine whether incidental emotions cause individuals to focus on members of groups stereotypically associated with the activated emotion, and whether this attention is focused particularly on emotion relevant features of the groups. These studies also examine whether incidental emotion increases emotions explicitly tied to the target group (integral emotion) and a focus on incidental emotion specific features of individuals in the target group. The second set of studies tests the hypothesis that incidental emotion affects perceptions of non-prototypical members of target groups more than prototypic members. The third set of studies focus on the behavioral consequences of incidental emotion. These studies examine the hypothesis that the effect of incidental emotions on attention, and implicit biases can cause discriminatory behaviors. Importantly, this project will build scientific infrastructure by strengthening collaborations between two labs with different expertise: the study of emotion and implicit social cognition. This project will also provide many opportunities for members of underrepresented minorities to be trained in scientific research.