Lecture+11+ +Social+Aspects+of+Emotion

REMINDER:

PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR PHONES

PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTION: SOCIAL ASPECTS OF EMOTION

Wesley G. Moons, Ph.D.

University of California, Davis

Department of Psychology

SOCIAL SOURCES OF EMOTION ¢  Interaction with present others can:

�  Make us angry �  Disgust us �  Amuse us

¢  Interaction with imagined/internalized others �  Fear of a bully �  Ashamed of disappointing others �  Comforting memories of old friend

INTERACTION WITH PRESENT OTHERS

¢  Mimicry �  Much nonverbal information

¢  Body posture ¢  Mannerisms ¢  Speech

¢  Rate of speech ¢  Volume ¢  Accents

¢  General benefits of mimicry �  Increases liking by mimicked person

¢  Other associated things: persuasiveness, compliance �  Exceptions to the rule:

¢  Being mimicked is outside our awareness ¢  Not all forms of mimicry work the same way…

POSTURE MIMICRY

¢  Posture conveys information: �  Lower dominance

¢  Constrictive posture – people take up less space

�  Higher dominance ¢  Expansive posture - people take up more space

¢  Tiedens and Fragale (2003) �  Examined interpersonal interactions

¢  Real participant and a confederate interacted

�  Confederate acted in scripted way: ¢  Mimicked posture of participant

¢  (Dominant-Dominant; Submissive-Submissive) ¢  Or complemented posture of participant

¢  (Dominant-Submissive; Submissive- Dominant)

POSTURAL MIMICRY RESULTS ¢ Complementary position elicited more favorable

reaction in real participant �  More liking of confederate �  More comfortable feeling during interaction

3.5

3.7

3.9

4.1

4.3

4.5

4.7

4.9

Participant Dominant

Participant Submissive

Lik

ing

of

Co

nfe

der

ate

Confederate Dominant

Confederate Submissive

EMOTIONAL MIMICRY

¢ Emotional expressions also mimicked �  Display emotions other person displaying �  Mimicry causes feeling emotion in self

¢ Why mimic? �  Mirror neurons �  Facilitate social interactions �  Empathy

¢ Social contagion of emotion �  One person’s emotion can be contagious �  Good or bad mood can “infect” a group

¢  Explained through mimicry processes

IMPORTANCE OF GROUPS

¢ Optimal Distinctiveness Theory (Brewer, 1991) �  People have two primary but conflicting motivations

¢  Affiliation (the desire to belong) ¢  Distinctiveness (the desire to stand out)

¢ Groups satisfy both these motives �  Groups satisfy affiliation motivation

¢  Belonging with other members of groups

�  Groups satisfy distinctiveness motivation ¢  Distinguish our ingroups from outgroups

¢ Groups provide “optimal” level of distinctiveness

HOW DO YOU FEEL RIGHT NOW

¢  Enthusiastic ¢  Interested ¢  Determined ¢  Excited ¢  Inspired ¢  Alert ¢  Active ¢  Strong ¢  Proud ¢  Attentive

¢  Scared ¢  Afraid ¢  Upset ¢  Distressed ¢  Jittery ¢  Nervous ¢  Ashamed ¢  Guilty ¢  Irritable ¢  Hostile

1 2 3 4 5 Not at all Very much

INTERACTION WITH IMAGINED OTHERS ¢ Self-categorization Theory

�  People view themselves as group members �  Think of themselves in group terms

¢ Self-stereotyping �  Applying prototypical characteristics of group to self

¢  Both negative and positive characteristics

�  Satisfies affiliation motive ¢  Increased by more identification with group ¢  All kinds of groups (e.g., sex, race, fabricated)

INTERGROUP EMOTION THEORY (MACKIE & SMITH)

¢  Group membership shapes emotional experiences �  Group-based appraisals

¢  We see and evaluate the world through a group “lens” ¢  Group memberships influences what information comes to

mind

�  Group-based emotions ¢  We respond emotionally as members of our group ¢  Even when other members are not around

¢  Study: 1.  Individual-level emotions

¢  “As an individual, to what extent do you feel…” 2.  One group-level emotions

¢  e.g., “As an American, to what extent do you feel…” 3.  Different group-level emotions (e.g., as student)

�  Results ¢  Group emotion profiles were all distinct from each other ¢  Consistent shift across participants for each group emotion

profile

SOURCE OF GROUP-BASED EMOTION

¢ How do people get these group-based emotions? ¢  Moons, Leonard, Mackie & Smith (2009)

¢ Self-stereotyping of emotion study 1: 1.  Participants reported emotions as individuals 2.  Reported emotions as Americans 3.  Emotion stereotype presented

¢  Americans feel very low (extremely high) ¢  Levels of anger (fear)

4.  Participants reported emotions as Americans again 5.  Reported emotions as individuals again

SELF-STEREOTYPING OF EMOTION RESULTS ¢ Evidence of “Emotion Specificity”

�  Specific emotion only ¢  Reported anger was ONLY affected by anger stereotype

¢  NOT fear stereotype ¢  Reported fear was only affected by fear stereotype

¢  NOT anger stereotype

�  Group-based emotions only ¢  Emotion group stereotypes only affected reported group emotions

¢  NOT emotions reported as an individual

REPORTED ANGER ONLY

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Anger Stereotype Fear Stereotype

Rep

ort

ed G

rou

p-B

ase

d A

ng

er

Low Level

High Level

REPORTED FEAR ONLY

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Anger Stereotype Fear Stereotype

Rep

ort

ed G

rou

p-B

ase

d F

ear

Low Level

High Level

EMOTION SELF-STEREOTYPING (IS THIS “REAL”?)

¢  Study 2 Method 1.  Reported identification as women 2.  Presented anger stereotype (for women) 3.  Completed risk-taking task 4.  Reported emotions as women 5.  Reported emotions as individuals

¢  Study 2 Results �  Risk-taking influenced by anger stereotype

¢  Without first reporting emotion �  Post-stereotype emotions associated with risk judgments

¢  Group-based anger associated with risk-taking ¢  Individual anger did not predict risk-taking

�  Effect depended on level of identification with group ¢  More identification increased impact of anger stereotype

STEREOTYPE CONTENT MODEL (FISKE, CUDDY, GLICK, & XU, 2002)

¢ Outgroups perceived and evaluated on two independent dimensions: 1.  Warmth 2.  Competence

EMOTIONS TO OUTGROUP MEMBERS (FISKE, CUDDY, GLICK, & XU, 2002)

¢  Outgroups perceived and evaluated on two independent dimensions: 1.  Warmth 2.  Competence

¢  This forms 4 general quadrants �  Warm and competent �  Warm and incompetent �  Cold and competent �  Cold and incompetent

¢  Groups from each quadrant elicit specific emotional reaction in perceivers

�  Warm and competent: Admiration �  Warm and incompetent: Pity �  Cold and competent: Envy �  Cold and incompetent: Contempt

THE END!