Exploring the Effects of Sadness on Social Acuity

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究将探讨轻微、短暂的悲伤如何影响形成有效社会判断的能力。本研究计划的主要目的是检验提出的理论模型，以解决过去在这一领域的不一致。该模型假设言语和非言语线索对判断任务的相对贡献对悲伤影响判断准确性的方式有重要影响。具体来说，悲伤被假设会导致信息处理方式的转变，即更多地强调语言线索，更少地强调非语言线索。结果表明，当相关构念的诊断线索主要编码于言语通道时，判断会增强；当诊断线索主要编码于非言语通道时，判断会减弱。三项研究将检验这些假设。研究1测试了更仔细的推理和更强调语言线索之间的联系。研究2测试了对言语线索的更多强调与对社会判断准确性的不对称效应之间的后续联系。最后，研究3通过诱导悲伤和使用假设认知机制的间接测量来同时测试模型的所有阶段。

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.