Emotional Regulation of Implicitly Measured Stereotypes: Automatic and Controlled Processes

Abstract

Emotion for a long time has been thought as the main reason causing the cognitive obstinacy of the stereotype and the stereotype expression. However, researches discussing directly how emotion regulates expression of implicitly measured stereotypes are few. Relevant researches so far only discussed the effect of diffuse moods and there were differences and disputes in specific experimental results and theoretical explanation. In the light of the deficiency of the previous researches this study improves the relevant theory of emotional regulation of implicitly measured stereotypes expression through two series of experiments based on the clarification of the definition and classification of the emotion.Experiment 1 employs music to awake different diffuse moods(sadness vs. cheer) of the participants and operates their real-time thoughts(stereotype consistent vs. stereotype inconsistent) thus to investigate their influence on implicitly measured stereotypes expression. Experiment 2 employs video to evoke participants' different directional emotions(sympathy vs. dislike), investigating how these regulate college students' implicitly measured stereotypes expression of AIDS patients and HIV carriers of different routes of infection. Series research leads in Quad Model analysis based on IAT paradigm to find out whether the effect of emotional regulation of implicitly measured stereotypes expression happens in automatic processes or controlled processes of cognitive process, and through which psychological elements(AC, OB, D, G) the different emotions regulate implicitly measured stereotypes expression. The results show:(1) When real-time thoughts and stereotype are consistent, positive diffuse moods promote implicitly measured stereotypes expression; Conversely, positive diffuse moods inhibit implicitly measured stereotypes expression;(2) Diffuse moods regulate implicitly measured stereotypes expression by adjusting the automatic processes(AC) of the cognitive process, but not involved in the regulation of controlled processes presented by D parameters;(3) Directional emotion valence and the route of inflection influence college students' implicitly measured stereotypes expression: directional emotions with positive valence inhibit participants' implicitly measured stereotypes expression of AIDS patients, while that with negative valence promote participants' implicitly measured stereotypes expression of AIDS patients.(4) Directional emotions regulate the automatic processes of implicitly measured stereotypes expression, that is, the regulation of implicitly measured stereotypes expression through automatic activation(AC) elements. It also involved in the regulation of controlled processes of implicitly measured stereotypes expression, that is, the regulation of implicitly measured stereotypes expression through detection(D) elements.