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Interoceptive ability moderates the effect of physiological reactivity on social judgment
Mallory J Feldman1, Jennifer K MacCormack2, Adrienne S Bonar1
1Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Emotion (Washington, D.C.)
|March 23, 2023
Summary
People who are less aware of their internal bodily sensations, like heartbeats, are more likely to misjudge others during stressful situations. This affective realism can lead to biased social perceptions.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Social judgments significantly impact social interactions.
- Affective realism describes how internal states can distort these judgments.
- Stressful situations can exacerbate affective realism.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate factors influencing affective realism during stressful interviews.
- To determine if awareness of internal sensations mitigates affective realism.
- To examine the link between physiological perception and social judgment bias.
Main Methods:
- Collected data from 161 participants (Mage = 19.20 years) between 2015-2019.
- Assessed participants' ability to detect their own heartbeats.
- Measured sympathetic nervous system reactivity during a simulated stressful interview.
- Recorded participants' perceptions of the interviewers' behavior.
Main Results:
- Individuals with lower heartbeat detection accuracy showed increased affective realism.
- Poor heartbeat detectors attributed their stress to interviewers, viewing them as more negative.
- Heightened sympathetic nervous system reactivity correlated with more negative interviewer perceptions in low-detector participants.
Conclusions:
- Accurate perception of internal bodily sensations may reduce affective realism.
- Awareness of one's physiological state can be a pathway to mitigating social perception bias.
- Understanding affective realism is crucial in contexts where biased judgments can have negative consequences.
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