Effects of category-based expectancy violation on affect-related evaluations: Toward a comprehensive model

Abstract

We examined the processes that unfold from category-based expectancy violations. In Experiment 1, which included both Black and White participants, descriptions of in-group and out-group targets' academic credentials either violated or were consistent with relevant category-based expectancies for their respective group category. The results showed that expectancy violations were associated with more extreme affect-related evaluations, regardless of whether the participants were in-group or out-group members. Moreover, these affect-related evaluations were made more quickly than attributions. In Experiment 2, a judgment facilitation paradigm was used in which participants' response times to make affect-related evaluations and attributions regarding expectancy violating targets were compared. Consistent with Experiment 1, the results showed that affect-related evaluations were made more quickly than attributions, and facilitation scores indicated that affect-related evaluations are likely mediators of attributions. Results were consistent with the expectancy-violation theory, and supported the idea that affect-related evaluations mediate the relation between target characteristics and attributional processes.