Loading…

Different Emotional Reactions to Different Groups: A Sociofunctional Threat-Based Approach to "Prejudice"

The authors suggest that the traditional conception of prejudice-as a general attitude or evaluation-can problematically obscure the rich texturing of emotions that people feel toward different groups. Derived from a sociofunctional approach, the authors predicted that groups believed to pose qualit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2005-05, Vol.88 (5), p.770-789
Main Authors: Cottrell, Catherine A, Neuberg, Steven L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The authors suggest that the traditional conception of prejudice-as a general attitude or evaluation-can problematically obscure the rich texturing of emotions that people feel toward different groups. Derived from a sociofunctional approach, the authors predicted that groups believed to pose qualitatively distinct threats to in-group resources or processes would evoke qualitatively distinct and functionally relevant emotional reactions. Participants' reactions to a range of social groups provided a data set unique in the scope of emotional reactions and threat beliefs explored. As predicted, different groups elicited different profiles of emotion and threat reactions, and this diversity was often masked by general measures of prejudice and threat. Moreover, threat and emotion profiles were associated with one another in the manner predicted: Specific classes of threat were linked to specific, functionally relevant emotions, and groups similar in the threat profiles they elicited were also similar in the emotion profiles they elicited.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.88.5.770