Effect of affective reactions by an out-group on preferences for crossed categorization discussion partners.

The authors experimentally examined the effects of positive or negative affect from an out-group (O) on preferences for the 4 crossed categorization targets-in-group-in-group (ii), in-group-out-group (io), out-group-in-group (Oi), and out-group-out-group (oo)-as discussion partners. Study 1 induced affect with compliments; Study 2 used insults; Study 3 cross-culturally assessed the effects of both types of affect. Preferences for the target who possessed a category membership that matched the out-group source of affect on 1 dimension of categorization (Oi) were increased by compliments and decreased by insults. Confirming predictions, positive affect produced a hierarchical rejection pattern (ii = Oi > io > oo). Negative affect produced a hierarchical acceptance pattern (ii > io > Oi = oo). All 3 control conditions yielded an additivity pattern (ii > io = oi > oo).