Anger, Fear and Tears: Emotion, Sex, Race and Witness Credibility

• In Event: Irony, Anger, Rumination, Fear, and Fury: Taking Social Cognition Personally

Abstract

Two experiments examined the influence of emotional expression, gender, and race on the credibility of victims and on the realism of the stories they tell. When males judge another male or an African American they see anger as just as credible and realistic as fear. On the other hand, when women judge a witness, fear is virtually always more credible and realistic than anger.

Authors

• Michael A. Shapiro, Cornell University

• Soo Yeon Kim, Cornell University

• Amy Lynn Melville, Cornell University