Regulating emotions under exposure to negative out-group-related news material results in increased acceptance of out-groups

ABSTRACT

Negative emotions affect the acceptance of out-groups. Here, we investigated whether modifying negative emotions would affect perceptions of out-groups. We experimentally manipulated the use of two emotion regulation strategies: suppression of emotional expression and cognitive reappraisal, the latter involving reframing a situation to mitigate its emotional impact. Using a population-based sample (N = 317), we conducted an online randomized controlled trial. Participants regulated their emotions while reading threatening news about out-groups. Not only reappraisal, but also suppression increased immediate acceptance of out-groups. The effect of reappraisal was partly mediated by decreased disgust, suggesting unique effects of reappraisal on this emotion. In the suppression condition acceptance decreased at high levels of habitual emotion regulation, whereas reappraisal showed an opposite tendency. Previous research may have underestimated the importance of different emotion regulation strategies on prejudice, and that relatively simple interventions can affect prejudice. The findings are of interest to prejudice prevention programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotion regulation
• prejudice
• cognitive reappraisal
• detached reappraisal
• expressive suppression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/d4wns

Open Scholarship

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Minja Westerlund

Minja Westerlund is a PhD student in Psychology at Åbo Akademi University. Her main research interests concern emotions, intergroup attitudes and prejudice, intergroup conflict, and cross-cultural psychology. She is a licensed psychologist.

Pekka Santtila

Professor Pekka Santtila is a Professor of Psychology at NYU Shanghai. Previously, he was Professor of Applied Psychology and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology at the Åbo Akademi University in Finland. His research is focused on legal and forensic psychology with a particular interest in investigative issues and forensic sexology. He has also done work on behavior genetics and is involved in a research project where the behavioral effects of intragenomic conflict are investigated. Professor Santtila has provided investigative advice to the police, acted as an expert witness in numerous legal cases and consulted child sexual abuse investigations. He is a licensed psychologist and specialist in legal psychology (Finland).

Jan Antfolk

Jan Antfolk is an Associate Professor at Åbo Akademi University in Finland. His research interests include evolutionary psychology, forensic psychiatry and social psychology. He is also involved in several projects concerning child sexual abuse, forensic investigations of alleged abuse, and cognitive psychology. He is a licensed psychologist.