Journal
COGNITION & EMOTION
Volume 25, Issue 1, Pages 10-21Publisher
PSYCHOLOGY PRESS
DOI: 10.1080/02699930903534105
Keywords
Anger; Action tendency; Selective information; Confirmation bias; Argumentative
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The current research explored the effect of anger on hypothesis confirmationthe propensity to seek information that confirms rather than disconfirms one's opinion. We argued that the moving against action tendency associated with anger leads angry individuals to seek out more disconfirming information than sad individuals, attenuating the confirmation bias. We tested this hypothesis in two studies of experimentally primed anger and sadness on the selective exposure to hypothesis confirming and disconfirming information. In Study 1, participants in the angry condition were more likely to choose disconfirming information than those in the sad or neutral condition when given the opportunity to read more about a social debate, and reading the disconfirming information affected their subsequent attitude. Study 2 measured participants' opinions and information selection about the 2008 US Presidential Election and their desire to omove againsto a person or object. Participants in the angry condition reported a greater tendency to oppose a person or object, which resulted in the attenuation of the confirmation bias.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available