Mood and the impact of individuating information on the evaluation of ingroup and outgroup members: The role of mood-based expectancies

René Ziegler (1) , Axel M. Burger (2)

1 Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen = Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen
2 Universität Mannheim

This research investigates the role of mood-based expectancies regarding a target's group membership for the impact of individuating information on target judgments. We argue that target judgments in both positive and negative mood may be more or less affected by individuating information depending on whether the target is an ingroup member or an outgroup member. Specifically, in a competitive intergroup setting it should be less congruent with mood-based expectancies when individuals in positive (negative) mood learn that an outgroup (ingroup) member rather than an ingroup (outgroup) member has succeeded. Hence, unexpected (i.e., mood-incongruent) category information should elicit more attention than expected (mood-congruent) category information. More important, subsequent individuating information (high vs. low target competence) should be processed more effortful and influence target judgments more strongly given mood-incongruent (vs. mood-congruent) category membership. Findings of an experiment support these predictions. Results are discussed in regard to implications for different research domains.

Mots clés: Mood; intergroup judgments; ingroup-outgroup; individuating information; processing; expectancies

Domaines: Psychologie et comportements

René Ziegler, Axel M. Burger. Mood and the impact of individuating information on the evaluation of ingroup and outgroup members: The role of mood-based expectancies. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2011, ⟨10.1016/j.jesp.2011.04.002⟩. ⟨peer-00995252⟩