College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Graduation Date

11-2009

Document Type

Thesis

Department/Program Conferring Degree

Psychology

Keywords

mood (psychology), stereotype (psychology), ease of processing, certainty, effort

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of stereotyping on mood. It was hypothesized that people who were able to solve a problem by applying a stereotype will experience more positive affect compared to people who could not, and that the relationship between stereotyping and mood was mediated by effort and by certainty. 70 undergraduates were asked to predict the academic trajectory of a college applicant based on information provided by a typed college application form and by an essay. For half the participants the applicant was identified as Asian; for the others, the applicant was Anglo. The essay provided information that was either consistent with the Asian stereotype, or counter-stereotypical. After the task participants indicated their current mood, the effort necessary to perform it, and the certainty with which they made the predictions. The data were analyzed using a 2 X 2 factorial ANOVA. Results indicated that there was no statistically significant relationship between stereotyping and mood.

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