Anger and Snap Judgments

Anger can make a normally unbiased person act with prejudice, according to a study in the Journalof Psychological Science.Assistant psychology professors David DeSteno atNortheastern University in Boston and NilanjanaDasgupta at the University of Massachusetts,Amherst, randomly divided 81 study participants into two groups and assigned them a writing taskdesigned to induce angry, sad or neutral feelings.In a subsequent test to uncover non-consciousassociations, angry subjects were quicker toconnect negatively charged words—like war, deathand vomit—with members of the opposite group—even though the groupings were completelyarbitrary.“These automatic responses guide our behaviorwhen we’re not paying attention,” says DeSteno,and they can lead to discriminatory acts whenthere is pressure to make a quick decision. “Ifyou’re aware that your emotions might be coloringthese gut reactions,” he says, “you should taketime to consider that possibility and adjust youractions accordingly.”

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