Exploring the Effects of Sadness on Social Acuity

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This research will explore the manner in which mild, transient sadness influences the ability to form valid social judgments. The major objective of this research proposal is to test a theoretical model put forth to resolve past inconsistencies in this area. This model posits that the relative contribution of verbal and nonverbal cues to the judgment task has important consequences for the way sadness impacts judgment accuracy. Specifically, sadness is hypothesized to produce a shift in information-processing style that places more emphasis on verbal cues and less emphasis on nonverbal cues. As a result, judgments should be enhanced when diagnostic cues to the relevant constructs are primarily encoded in the verbal channel and diminished when diagnostic cues are primarily encoded in the nonverbal channel. Three studies will test these hypotheses. Study 1 tests the link between more careful reasoning and greater emphasis on verbal cues. Study 2 tests the subsequent link between greater emphasis on verbal cues and asymmetric effects on social judgment accuracy. Finally, Study 3 tests all stages of the model concurrently by inducing sadness and using indirect measures of the hypothesized cognitive mechanisms.