Intergroup emotion theories differ in whether they measure societal or personal emotional reactions

Evidence

Although both the Stereotype Content Model and Intergroup Emotions Theory postulate emotional reactions to other groups, there are at least two major distinctions between these perspectives. One is that the Stereotype Content Model conceptualizes emotional reactions to specific groups from the viewpoint of “society as a whole.” Indeed, studies testing this approach have typically asked respondents to describe how society in general reacts to various groups such as welfare recipients, rather than how those respondents themselves react emotionally (either as individuals or as members of their own particular ingroups, which is the focus of Intergroup Emotions Theory). Second, the Stereotype Content Model focuses specifically on the two dimensions of warmth and competence, and on four specific resulting emotions, while Intergroup Emotions Theory assumes that any and all emotions that can occur to individuals can also occur in intergroup contexts, based on a wide range of possible appraisal dimensions. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2274

Categorization

• QUESTION: Asking respondents how ‘society’ reacts vs. how they react personally could yield very different data — worth tracking which framing studies use.