Categorising intersectional targets: An "either/and" approach to race- and gender-emotion congruity. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Smith, Jacqueline S.; LaFrance, Marianne; Dovidio, John F.
• Is Part Of: Cognition and emotion. Volume 31:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 83
• Page End: 97
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Emotional expressions -- stereotypes -- social categorisation -- intersectionality -- Black women; Cognition -- Periodicals; Emotions and cognition -- Periodicals; 155.413
• DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2015.1081875
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-9931

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Research on the interaction of emotional expressions with social category cues in face processing has focused on whether specific emotions are associated with single-category identities, thus overlooking the influence of intersectional identities. Instead, we examined how quickly people categorise intersectional targets by their race, gender, or emotional expression. In Experiment 1, participants categorised Black and White faces displaying angry, happy, or neutral expressions by either race or gender. Emotion influenced responses to men versus women only when gender was made salient by the task. Similarly, emotion influenced responses to Black versus White targets only when participants categorised by race. In Experiment 2, participants categorised faces by emotion so that neither category was more salient. As predicted, responses to Black women differed from those to both Black men and White women. Thus, examining race and gender separately is insufficient to understanding how emotion and social category cues are processed.