Affect and stereotyping: the effect of induced mood on distinctiveness-based illusory correlations.
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.
Stroessner
S J
SJ
Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara 93106.
Hamilton
D L
DL
Mackie
D M
DM
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