Positive mood enhances gender stereotype activation during semantic integration and re-analysis

Gender stereotypes are deeply rooted in language, and their activation can be influenced by various factors. Behavioural evidence suggests that both positive and negative moods can modulate responses to stereotype-laden linguistic content. Early research also highlights the role of colour-gender associations in language processing. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the interaction between mood, gender stereotype activation, and colour-gender associations remain underexplored. Here, we provide novel neurocognitive evidence that a positive mood actively facilitates access to stereotype knowledge during the stage of semantic integration and re-analysis. Female participants induced into positive or negative moods made stereotype congruency judgments about sentences that were either congruent or incongruent with gender stereotypes, preceded by gendered (pink/blue circles) or gender-neutral (white circles) visual cues. First, the results showed smaller N200 amplitudes in a positive compared to negative mood only for sentences preceded by gender-neutral cues, suggesting that gender-driven expectancies evoked by gendered cues can override mood effects during early lexico-semantic processing. Second, we found smaller N400 amplitudes in a positive compared to negative mood, indicating overall facilitation of lexico-semantic processing in a positive mood, irrespective of stereotype congruency. Finally, we observed larger Late Positive Complex (LPC) amplitudes for stereotypically incongruent than congruent sentences only in a positive mood, pointing to gender stereotype knowledge modulating semantic integration and reanalysis processes in a positive but not negative mood.

Spontaneous Trait Inferences From Behavior: A Systematic Meta-Analysis

Research suggests that people spontaneously infer traits from behavioral information, thus forming impressions of actors' personalities. Such spontaneous trait inferences (STI) have been examined in a wide range of studies in the last four decades. Here, we provide the first systematic meta-analysis of this vast literature. We included data from k = 86 publications, with overall N = 13,630 participants. The average STI effect was moderate to large (dz = 0.59) and showed substantial heterogeneity. The type of experimental paradigm significantly moderated the STI effect size, with larger effects in long-term memory-based paradigms compared with working memory-based paradigms. Generally, STI effects were robust to various methodological variations and also to potential concerns of publication bias. Contrary to expectations, cultural background (independent vs. interdependent) did not emerge as a significant moderator of STI effects. We discuss these findings with respect to their theoretical relevance and derive implications for future research and theorizing.

My general manager is warmer than department manager: Stereotypes about senior and junior high-power individuals and their influences on spontaneous trait inference

Introduction

Previous research suggests that high-power (HP) individuals are stereotyped as positive competence but negative warmth.

Object

By subdividing HP individuals into junior and senior HP individuals, the current research conducted five studies to examine the warmth perception differences toward senior and junior HP individuals in Confucian culture and the downstream effects on spontaneous trait inference (STI).

Method and results

By using different paradigms, Study 1 and 2 found that participants tended to perceive junior HP individuals as negative on the warmth dimension and perceive senior HP individuals as positive on the warmth dimension. The following Study 3 and 4 further found that the warmth perception difference toward senior and junior HP individuals had an influence on STI. Specifically, participants were inclined to make STI from behaviors implying negative warmth traits when behavioral actors were junior HP individuals while they were inclined to make STI from behaviors implying positive warmth traits when behavioral actors were senior HP individuals. Additionally, Study 4 found that perceived social responsibility about HP individuals accounted for the power stereotype effects in STI, the more social responsibility participants perceived about senior HP individuals, the stronger power stereotype effects they showed in STI. The final Study 5 revealed that the different power stereotype effects in STI induced by senior and junior HP actors were observed only in Confucian culture, but not in non-Confucian culture.

Conclusion

The present research firstly demonstrated that the warmth perceptions about senior and junior produced different influences on STI in Confucian culture, and also enriched the understanding about the culture-specificity of the stereotype content model.

How Your Power Affects My Impression of You

In the present article, we investigate how a person's power affects the way we infer traits from their behavior. In Experiment 1, our results suggest that, when faced with behavioral descriptions about others, participants infer both positive and negative traits about powerless actors, whereas for powerful and control (power irrelevant) actors, only positive but no negative traits are inferred, an effect we call the benevolence bias. In the second experiment, (a) we replicate this effect, (b) we show that it does not depend on the specific traits used in Experiment 1, and (c) we show that it is also detected when an implicit measure of inferences is used. Experiment 3 further shows that this effect generalizes to a more generic power manipulation. Theoretical explanations for these findings are discussed.

The Malleability of Stereotype Effects on Spontaneous Trait Inferences

Abstract. Past research has demonstrated that perceivers are more likely to draw spontaneous trait inferences (STIs) from stereotype-consistent behaviors than from stereotype-inconsistent behaviors. Four studies were conducted to examine the moderating role of power in stereotype effects on STIs. Priming power using the scrambled sentence task, Study 1 found that high-power participants drew STIs from elderly stereotype-consistent but not from elderly stereotype-inconsistent sentences, while low-power participants did not draw STIs from elderly stereotype-consistent or stereotype-inconsistent behaviors. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 by exploring the moderating role of power in gender stereotype effects on STIs. Measuring participants’ dispositional power via the Personal Sense of Power, Study 3 found that dispositional power also moderated the effects of gender stereotype on STIs. Study 4 found that compared with the baseline condition (no-power manipulation), the low-power condition inhibited STIs from stereotype-consistent behaviors, but the high-power condition did not facilitate STI formation from stereotype-consistent behaviors. The current study is the first to show that power influences the reliance on stereotypes when spontaneously inferring traits from behaviors.

The effects of mood on spontaneous trait inferences about the actor: Evidence from Chinese undergraduates

Prior research has indicated that positive moods increase but negative moods decrease the trait activation of spontaneous trait inferences (STIs). However, it is unknown whether this difference is also present in STIs about the actor. In Study 1, using a false recognition paradigm, we found that Chinese undergraduates made STIs about the actor. In Study 2, we found that the happy Chinese undergraduates were more likely to make STIs about the actor than the sad Chinese undergraduates. These findings showed that Chinese people made STIs about the actor and moods had an influence on their STIs about the actor.