Categorization in everyday life: the effects of positive and negative categorizations on emotions and self-views

✍ Scribed by Naomi Ellemers; Manuela Barreto

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 100 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0046-2772
• DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.333

✦ Synopsis

This study investigates how everyday categorization experiences affect people's emotional responses and self-views. A representative Dutch population sample (N ¼ 463) was asked to recount a situation in which they were categorized by others. This resulted in a range of categories that were spontaneously evoked by research participants. Participants were asked to think of a situation either where the categorization resulted in negative or in positive expectations about the self. Positive categorization elicited more positive emotions and agreement than negative categorization. However, when positive expectations about the self were formed, people found it less easy to detect that these were based on external categorizations, and were less likely to protest. Mediational analyses showed that because detection was impaired, exposure to positive categorization resulted in lower self-confidence than exposure to negative categorization.