The proposal included in this application outlines three experiments that will be run consecutively in order to establish the relationship between anger and cognitive processing. Information processing paradigms will be used as they provide suitable methods by which information scrutiny can be assessed nonintrusively. In experiment 1 we will be observing how anger influences cognitive processing of information; the hypothesis is that anger will cause heuristic processing as previously demonstrated in past research. We will also observe if topic relevance increases the likelihood that people will systematically process information. In experiment 2, I would like to replicate the findings of study 1 using a different manipulation of anger that lacks the interpersonal challenge aspect. This will generalize results from study 1 to different operationalizations of the variables and allow for a replication of theoretical variables, thanks to a matched design. Study 3 will focus on interpersonal retaliation, thanks to an additional manipulation. People will be made to believe that the message they receive is either from the person who just recently angered them or from a completely unrelated other person. These studies will elucidate the relation between anger and cognitive processing. ? ?
| Moons, Wesley G; Mackie, Diane M; Garcia-Marques, Teresa (2009) The impact of repetition-induced familiarity on agreement with weak and strong arguments. J Pers Soc Psychol 96:32-44 |
| Moons, Wesley G; Mackie, Diane M (2007) Thinking straight while seeing red: the influence of anger on information processing. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 33:706-20 |
