Appraisals Associated with Interpersonal Negative Emotions: What Distinguishes Anger, Contempt, Dislike, and Hatred?

Abstract

To aid in understanding the determinants of negative interpersonal and intergroup behaviours, this research tested theories specifying which appraisals of events would be associated with distinct negative emotions felt towards other individuals. To test hypotheses, we analysed survey responses from 128 MTurk workers and undergraduates in the USA who wrote about current and prior experiences of either anger, contempt, dislike, or hatred, and rated scales measuring hypothesised appraisals and emotional responses. As predicted, anger was associated with perceiving another person as blocking one’s goals, whereas contempt was associated with perceiving another person as beneath one’s standards; and anger, contempt, dislike, and hatred were each associated with perceiving events as motive-inconsistent and caused by another person. However, only one item measuring prospective control fit the predicted pattern of anger and contempt involving higher control potential than dislike and hatred. These results replicate and extend previous findings on appraisal-emotion relationships in India and the United States. Similarities and differences across cultures in appraisal-emotion relationships are discussed and applied to intergroup relations in developing societies.