TY - JOUR
T1 - Misanthropic Memory for the Behavior of Group Members
AU - Ybarra, Oscar
AU - Stephan, Walter G.
AU - Schaberg, Linda
PY - 2000/12
Y1 - 2000/12
N2 - The research reported here examined whether misanthropic memory occurs for groups, that is, whether people best remember negative behaviors of group members that have been dispositionally attributed and positive behaviors that have been situationally attributed. Experiment 1 established a baseline, showing that behaviors that were not associated with attributions displayed an incongruity effect in which behaviors incongruent with prior expectancies were better recalled than were behaviors congruent with prior expectancies. In Experiment 2, attributions were associated with the behaviors used in Experiment 1, resulting in an attenuation of the incongruity effect and the emergence of a strong misanthropy effect. Experiment 3 indicated that misanthropic memory is only found for outgroups and not for ingroups. The implications of the findings for intergroup perception were discussed.
AB - The research reported here examined whether misanthropic memory occurs for groups, that is, whether people best remember negative behaviors of group members that have been dispositionally attributed and positive behaviors that have been situationally attributed. Experiment 1 established a baseline, showing that behaviors that were not associated with attributions displayed an incongruity effect in which behaviors incongruent with prior expectancies were better recalled than were behaviors congruent with prior expectancies. In Experiment 2, attributions were associated with the behaviors used in Experiment 1, resulting in an attenuation of the incongruity effect and the emergence of a strong misanthropy effect. Experiment 3 indicated that misanthropic memory is only found for outgroups and not for ingroups. The implications of the findings for intergroup perception were discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034346339&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0034346339&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/01461672002612006
DO - 10.1177/01461672002612006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0034346339
SN - 0146-1672
VL - 26
SP - 1515
EP - 1525
JO - Personality and social psychology bulletin
JF - Personality and social psychology bulletin
IS - 12
ER -