title: Affect and stereotyping: the effect of induced mood on distinctiveness-based illusory correlations.
abstract: In 2 studies, the effects of mood on the formation of distinctiveness-based illusory correlations were examined. After exposure to stimuli inducing positive, neutral, or negative mood, Ss read information about behaviors performed by members of 2 groups in an illusory correlation paradigm. In both experiments, only Ss in a neutral mood formed illusory correlations. In addition, Experiment 2 assessed Ss' processing latencies as a means of investigating differential attention to distinctive behaviors. Only Ss in a neutral mood differentially attended to the minority group's infrequent behaviors. Induced mood apparently interfered with the processing necessary to differentially encode distinctive stimuli, undermining the illusory correlation effect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara 93106.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Stroessner
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Mackie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D011939:Mental Recall; D009042:Motivation; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping