Olivia Fiske, Alix Alto, Olivia Dooley, Dana Walker, Nicole Betz, Lisa

Category: Interdisciplinary Topics Degree Level: Undergraduate/Graduate Abstract ID: #1340
Priming EssenAalist Beliefs about EmoAons Alters EmoAonal Experiences Different Across Genders Olivia Fiske, Alix Alto, Olivia Dooley, Dana Walker, Nicole Betz, Lisa Feldman BarreZ, John D. Coley Background Method Results Research Ques+on: Does priming emo+onal essen+alism influence emo+on regula+on or emo+onal experiences in response to an i n-­‐lab nega+ve mood induc+on? What is Psychological EssenAalism? Belief that category members are uniform and cohesive Belief that category membership is informaAve Par+cipants 94 Northeastern University undergraduates (48 males; age M=19, SD=1.9). Experimental Materials Priming Manipula*on Measures PANAS: ParAcipants’ self-­‐reported negaAve and posiAve emoAons were measured before and aoer a negaAve mood inducAon Belief in the exclusivity of category Belief in an underlying, unobservable essence Belief in the naturalness of category Belief that category membership is difficult to change Belief that category membership is stable over Ame EmoAons are EssenAalized Lindquist and colleagues (2013) demonstrated that laypeople tend to essenAalize emoAons categories (e.g. anger, disgust).Further, they found that people tend to think that emoAons are naturally occurring categories. EmoAonal EssenAalism Predicts MaladapAve EmoAon RegulaAon Strategies Nega*ve Mood Induc*on: A series of three negaAve film clips, totally 17 minutes, played in random order. These clips were previously validated to induce a negaAve emoAonal state. DERS (adapted): We adapted the DifficulAes in EmoAon RegulaAon Scale to inquire about cogniAve emoAon regulaAon strategies used by parAcipants when viewing the film clips. The DERS includes 6 subscales: acceptance, goals, impulsivity, awareness, strategies, and clarity Prompt 1: High or Low in Homogeneity Prompt 2: High or Low in Immutability High EssenAalism Write about a Ame when you and a Write about a Ame when you friend experienced the same wanted to change your emoAonal emoAonal event and had the same state, but were unable to do so. emoAonal response to it Low EssenAalism Write about a Ame when you and a Write about a Ame when you friend experienced the same wanted to change your emoAonal emoAonal event, but had different state, and were able to do so. emoAonal responses to it Control Write about an emoAonal event from your past. Essen*alism Measure: We asked parAcipants Write about an emoAonal event about e
ssenAalism-­‐relevant b
eliefs a
bout from your past. emoAon categories (originally used in Lindquist et al., 2013) Experimental Procedure Discussion and Future DirecAons EmoAonal EssenAalism Can be Primed Summary of Findings & Conclusions The way that we think about our emo*ons influences our emo*onal experiences. Future Direc*ons Further examine and clarify the gender differences that we observed. What i
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etween e
moAonal e
ssenAalism a
nd Priming emoAonal essenAalism enhanced emoAonal clarity for men, but directed e
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egulaAon s
trategies? did not alter emoAonal clarity for woman Is there a relaAonship between emoAonal essenAalism and mood Priming emoAonal essenAalism decreased felt negaAve affect for men and disorders (e.g., depression or anxiety)? increased felt negaAve affect for women Possible applicaAons for enhancing well-­‐being References Betz, N., BarreZ, L. F., & Coley, J.D. (in prep). The Malleability and Consequences of EssenAalist Beliefs about EmoAons. Lindquist, K. A., Gendron, M., Oosterwijk, S., & BarreZ, L. F. (2013). Do people essenAalize emoAons? Individual differences in emoAon essenAalism and emoAonal experience. Emo+on, 13(4), 629. Conceptual OrganizaAon,