Feeling low and feeling high: Associations between social status and emotions.

Abstract

Appraisal theories of emotion suggest that people's interpretations of situations are related to specific emotions. Cross-cultural theorists have argued that people's social roles can influence their interpretations. Thus, social roles and emotions are likely related. This dissertation examined multiple and reciprocal relationships between social status roles, agency appraisals, and specific emotions. Seven studies indicated that the experience of emotions is influenced by social position, that there are expectations for low and high status group members about the degree to which they should experience certain emotions, and that certain emotions convey social status. In Study 1, participants reported feeling specific emotions to a different degree depending on their randomly assigned status in a lab-created hierarchy. In Study 2, participants indicated that they experienced certain emotions to a different degree depending on whether they were interacting with their bosses or subordinates at work. In both studies, people in high status positions felt more anger and pride, while people in low status positions felt more sadness, guilt, and appreciation. Study 3, a vignette study, showed that people also expect high status group members to feel anger and pride and low status people to feel sadness, guilt, and appreciation. Again using a vignette methodology, Study 4 suggested that these status-emotion patterns are due, in part, to the stereotypes about the relative skill and ability of low and high status group members. Study 5 also used vignettes and indicated that people infer a person's social status from their emotions. Study 6 used people's real emotional reports to demonstrate the same phenomenon. Both Studies 5 and 6 demonstrated that angry and proud people are considered high status, and sad, guilty, and appreciative people are considered low status. In Study 7, participants were presented with information about another person's status and emotional state. Participants believed that people with high status emotions are more competent and dominant than people with low status emotions, regardless of their formal status position.