Signal detection on the battlefield: Priming self-protection vs. revenge-mindedness differentially modulates the detection of enemies and allies

D. Vaughn Becker, Chad R. Mortensen, Joshua M. Ackerman, Jenessa R. Shapiro, Uriah S. Anderson, Takao Sasaki, Jon K. Maner, Steven L. Neuberg, Douglas T. Kenrick

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Detecting signs that someone is a member of a hostile outgroup can depend on very subtle cues. How do ecology-relevant motivational states affect such detections? This research investigated the detection of briefly-presented enemy (versus friend) insignias after participants were primed to be self-protective or revenge-minded. Despite being told to ignore the objectively nondiagnostic cues of ethnicity (Arab vs. Western/European), gender, and facial expressions of the targets, both priming manipulations enhanced biases to see Arab males as enemies. They also reduced the ability to detect ingroup enemies, even when these faces displayed angry expressions. These motivations had very different effects on accuracy, however, with self-protection enhancing overall accuracy and revenge-mindedness reducing it. These methods demonstrate the importance of considering how signal detection tasks that occur in motivationally-charged environments depart from results obtained in conventionally motivationally-inert laboratory settings.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere23929
JournalPloS one
Volume6
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2011

Funding

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
  • General

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