Mood and the impact of individuating information on the evaluation of ingroup and outgroup members: The role of mood-based expectancies

This research investigates the role of mood-based expectancies regarding a target's group membership for the impact of individuating information on target judgments. We argue that target judgments in both positive and negative mood may be more or less affected by individuating information depending on whether the target is an ingroup member or an outgroup member. Specifically, in a competitive intergroup setting it should be less congruent with mood-based expectancies when individuals in positive (negative) mood learn that an outgroup (ingroup) member rather than an ingroup (outgroup) member has succeeded. Hence, unexpected (i.e., mood-incongruent) category information should elicit more attention than expected (mood-congruent) category information. More importantly, subsequent individuating information (high vs. low target competence) should be processed more effortful and influence target judgments more strongly given mood-incongruent (vs. mood-congruent) category membership. Findings of an experiment support these predictions. Results are discussed in regard to implications for different research domains. ► We investigated mood effects on judgments of ingroup and outgroup targets. ► Participants in positive or negative mood learned that either an ingroup or an outgroup member had won a competition. ► An outgroup winner was less congruent with positive mood than an ingroup winner; the opposite held in negative mood. ► Individuating information on the winner was processed more effortful and affected judgments more strongly given mood-incongruent versus mood-congruent targets. ► Processing strategies in both positive and negative mood are flexible.