Thanks for the Compliment? Emotional Reactions to Group-Level Versus Individual-Level Compliments and Insults

Abstract

The current research investigated participants' reactions to positive and negative comments directed toward them as individuals or as members of a social group. Using both perspective-taking (Studies 1 and 2) and actual interaction methodologies (Study 3), three studies found that participants generally responded negatively to negative comments regardless of the level of identity to which the comment was directed. Positive comments were generally viewed positively, except when the comment was directed at the group and was stereotype relevant. When the latter was the case, participants reported increased anger and desires to attack (and avoid) the speaker. Furthermore, these negative feelings and action tendencies were partially mediated by an attribution to prejudice to the speaker.

The multi-value basis of procedural justice

“…R. Smith, , 1999 proposes that when social identities are salient, individuals who experience events that favor or harm their group will experience positive or negative affect on their group's behalf, rather than on behalf of their personal identities. Consistent with this, Garcia, Miller, Smith, and Mackie (2006) found that people who experienced verbal insults directed toward their group responded emotionally to the group-level event and consequently experienced group-based negative emotions and behavioral action tendencies, such as the desire to attack the source of the insult.…”

When is a compliment not a compliment? Evaluating expressions of positive stereotypes

“…Furthermore, genuine performance-based compliments that are qualiWed by the target's group membership are likely to yield negative reactions. Garcia, Miller, Smith, and Mackie (2006) found that participants reacted to group-qualiWed compliments (e.g., "You did really well for a woman!") with heightened anger and evaluated the person making the compliment as prejudiced.…”

Stereotyping by omission: Eliminate the negative, accentuate the positive.

“…The often compensatory relationship between outgroups’ inferred warmth and competence (Judd et al, 2005; Yzerbyt et al, 2008), and tight coupling of positive and negative stereotypes (Czopp & Monteith, 2006), mean that persistently emphasizing positive unidimensional outgroup stereotypes may hinder repair of closely linked (but unspoken) negative stereotypes on other dimensions. When White or male communicators respectively praise Blacks’ athletic ability or say “You did really well for a woman,” such allegedly positive “compliments” lead (Black or female) audiences to draw negative inferences about communicators’ impressions (Czopp, 2008; Garcia, Miller, Smith, & Mackie, 2006). Similarly, White communicators give more positive open-ended descriptions of Black than White targets, but audiences who know the targets’ race interpret these descriptions more negatively, forming worse impressions of Black than White targets (Collins, Biernat, & Eidelman, 2009).…”