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Mood as information in making attributions to discrimination
Gretchen B Sechrist1, Janet K Swim, Melvin M Mark
1Department of Psychology, Park Hall, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA. gbs@buffalo.edu
Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|July 27, 2004
Summary
People’s mood influences their perception of discrimination. Positive moods led to fewer reports of discrimination unless the mood’s cause was explained, highlighting context’s role in reporting bias.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Attribution Theory
- Perception of Discrimination
Background:
- Individuals often utilize their current emotional state as a source of information for making judgments.
- The influence of mood on attributions, particularly concerning experiences of discrimination, remains an area requiring further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the extent to which individuals' current mood impacts their attributions of discrimination.
- To examine how providing an external attribution for mood influences the reporting of discrimination.
Main Methods:
- A mood induction procedure was administered to women, assigning them to either a positive or negative mood condition.
- Participants were either given an external attribution for their mood or not, followed by self-report measures of perceived discrimination.
- Discrimination experiences were assessed for both the participants themselves and other women.
Main Results:
- When no external attribution for mood was provided, women in a positive mood reported significantly less discrimination compared to those in a negative mood.
- The effect of mood on discrimination reporting was nullified when an external attribution for the induced mood was supplied.
- This suggests mood's impact on discrimination perception is contingent on whether the mood's source is understood.
Conclusions:
- Mood serves as a significant, yet context-dependent, factor in the perception and reporting of discrimination.
- Understanding the source of one's mood is crucial, as it can mediate the relationship between emotional state and the interpretation of social experiences.
- These findings underscore the importance of contextual factors and individual differences in how discrimination is perceived and communicated.
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