Effects of intergroup ambivalence on information processing: The role of physiological arousal

Maio, Gregory Richard, Greenland, Katy, Bernard, Mark and Esses, V. M. 2001. Effects of intergroup ambivalence on information processing: The role of physiological arousal. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 4 (4) , pp. 355-372. 10.1177/1368430201004004005

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Abstract

Previous research has found that people who are ambivalent toward a group process new information about the group more carefully than people who are nonambivalent toward the group. It has been suggested that this effect occurs because people who are ambivalent toward a group (a) experience a high level of physiological arousal when they think about the group and (b) seek to reduce this arousal by carefully processing new information about the group. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a correlational study (Study 1) and an experimental study (Study 2). Unexpectedly, Study 1 found that intergroup ambivalence is negatively correlated with the physiological arousal that is experienced when target outgroups are salient. Study 2 replicated this pattern and demonstrated an effect of intergroup ambivalence on information processing, while also discovering that the effects of ambivalence on arousal and on information processing were independent. Overall, these results indicate that arousal is not a necessary mediator of the relation between intergroup ambivalence and information processing.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	ambivalence; arousal; attitudes; prejudice
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	1368-4302
Last Modified:	09 Aug 2020 15:24
URI:	http://orca.cf.ac.uk/id/eprint/34747

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