Anger and shame elicited by discrimination: Moderating role of coping on action endorsements and salivary cortisol

Abstract

Discrimination often elicits anger, and yet group members typically do not take actions to confront their situation. It may be that other emotions that run contrary to action-taking also arise (e.g., shame), limiting the active expression of anger. Indeed, Study 1 (N ¼ 36) revealed that, using a failure feedback paradigm, women expressed greater shame when their failure was due to discrimination, compared to a lack of personal merit. In contrast to anger, self-reported shame was not associated with action-taking. In Study 2, women (N ¼ 91) were emotionally primed to feel either anger or shame (vs. a no mood prime control), and the moderating influence of coping styles on the link between emotions, actions, and salivary cortisol levels following discrimination were assessed. Among women primed to feel anger, problem-focused coping predicted reduced self-reported shame, lower cortisol reactivity, and greater individualistic confrontational action endorsements. In contrast, priming shame increased cortisol reactivity, but diminished the relation between particular coping styles and their capacity to facilitate action. Findings are discussed in terms of the interactive influence of emotions and coping on responses to discrimination. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.The predominant emotion elicited by overt experiences of discrimination is that of anger, particularly when the situation is viewed as unjust and the ingroup as strong (Mackie, Devos, & Smith, 2000;Swim, Hyers, Cohen, Fitzgerald, & Bylsma, 2003). Feelings of anger typically serve as a catalyst for action (Frijda, Kuipers, & TerSchure, 1989), including confrontational strategies on behalf of the group (Gill & Matheson, 2006;Mackie et al., 2000;van Zomeren, Spears, Fischer, & Leach, 2004;Yzerbyt, Dumont, Wigboldus, & Gordijn, 2003). Yet, actions to overcome the disadvantaged status of one's group are not, in fact, common (Louis & Taylor, 1999;Wright, Taylor, & Moghaddam, 1990). The factors that attenuate the relation between feelings of anger and group members' willingness to act on them remain to be fully elucidated.Due to pressures to take personal responsibility for negative events (Garcia, Horstman Reser, Amo, Redersdorff, & Branscombe, 2005;Stangor, Swim, VanAllen, & Sechrist, 2002), group members might not simply feel anger when they encounter discrimination, but may also experience feelings of shame (Tangney & Dearing, 2002;Tracy & Robins, 2004). Feelings of shame, in turn, might militate against the use of confrontational actions (Frijda et al., 1989). The present investigation evaluated women's emotions, particularly anger and shame, and their relation to action endorsements when women experienced gender discrimination. Further, inasmuch as discrimination may function as a stressor, individuals' coping propensities might serve to moderate the impact of anger and shame on behavioral responses to a discrimination event. As well, particular emotional responses, and especially shame, have been linked to physiological stress reactions, su...

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Depression history as a moderator of relations between cortisol and shame responses to social-evaluative threat in young adults

“…Whereas higher cortisol predicted increases in shame in never-depressed individuals, the association between cortisol and shame responses was not significant in remitted-depressed individuals. Results extend prior research in healthy individuals (Gruenewald et al, 2004; Matheson & Anisman, 2009; Mills et al, 2008) by revealing the time course of cortisol effects on shame: cortisol levels predicted higher shame ratings 25 to 55 minutes later but were not significantly associated with shame ratings 0 to 17 minutes later.…”

Everyday Confrontation of Discrimination: The Well-Being Costs and Benefits to Women over Time

“…Women's experiences of discrimination are associated with depression, reduced self-esteem, subjective well-being (Branscombe, Schmitt & Harvey, 1999;Foster, 2009a;Klonoff, Landrine & Campbell, 2000;Moradi & Subich, 2002) and physical disturbances like negative health behaviours, physical pain, and stress-reactive hormones (Matheson & Anisman, 2009;Townsend, Major, Gangi & Mendes, 2011;Zucker & Landry, 2007). It is therefore important to identify ways to reduce the negative effects of discrimination.…”