The study examined how emotion recognition is related to race. Sixty-seven participants interacted with a confederate of either their same or different race and then watched videos to identify emotions. The participant's emotional intelligence did not correlate with emotion recognition accuracy. Results showed that interacting with someone of a different racial group improved recognition of anxiety and fear. Recognition accuracy varied by emotion and intensity level depending on the participant and actor's race. Limitations included a small sample size and using acted emotions rather than real interactions. Future research should address equal media representation of criminality across races.

1. INTRODUCTION
HYPOTHESES
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
METHOD
• (N = 67, 77% White) participated in a two-part study.
• Participants interacted with a confederate in either their racial in- or
out-group and subsequently completed individual difference measures
(e.g. personality, EI) and then watched a series of videos.
• Participants were then asked to watch a series of videos and identify
the emotion displayed and intensity level of that emotion on a
computer screen.
• Videos were matched-paired for emotions such that both actors
displayed the same emotions at the same intensity levels in separate
videos, which were randomly displayed.
• d’ was used to capture emotion recognition sensitivity.2, 4
• We examined differences in recognition sensitivity as a function of
both participant and actor race.
• Participant’s EI scores would positively correlate with their ability to
accurately detect the emotion of the actors.
• The race of the participant and race of the confederate would impact
emotion recognition sensitivity/intensity.
• Pervasive racial stereotypes would influence individual emotion
recognition associated with those stereotypes (e.g. anger, fear, guilt).
1. Beaupré, M.G., & Hess, U. 2005. Cross-Cultural Emotion Recognition among Canadian Ethnic Groups. Journal of Cross-Cultural
Psychology, 36(3), 355-370
Doi: 10.1177/0022022104273656
2. Claremont Graduate University: Wise (Web Interface for Statistics Education). d' Defined. Retrieved from the Claremont Graduate University
Website: http://wise.cgu.edu/sdtmod/measures3.asp
3. Johnson, T.T. 2012. The Impact of Negative Stereotypes & Representations of African-Americans in the Media and African-American
Incarceration. UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
4. Keating, Pat, 2005. D-prime (signal detection) analysis. Retrieved from the UCLA Phonetics Lab Statistics website: http://
www.linguistics.ucla.edu/faciliti/facilities/statistics/dprime.htm
5. Psychology Today, 2015. Emotional Intelligence: What is Emotional Intelligence? Retrieved from the Psychology Today Website: https://
www.psychologytoday.com/basics/emotional-intelligence
6. Weisbuch, M. & Ambady, N. 2008. Affective divergence: Automatic responses to others' emotions depend on group membership. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1063-1079. Doi: 10.1037/a0011993
Figure 2. Sensitivity to Intensity level of emotions. Y-axis is d’.
*denotes significant differences between groups (all ps < .05)
Figure 3. d` Comparison.
*denotes significant differences between groups (all ps < .05)
All d’ values are significantly different from 0 (all ps < .05)
• Hypothesis 1 was not supported, EI was not related to emotional
sensitivity. This could be due to using a self-report EI measure or
because participants were not interacting with real people, but only
viewing videos of actors displaying contrived emotions.
• Results somewhat supported our second hypothesis. Interacting with
someone of a different racial group impacted emotion recognition
such that it was improved, at least for anxiety and fear.
• We also discovered clear differences in accuracy for individual
emotions and their corresponding intensity level as a function of
race, across all participants.
• Some limitations of the study include: the short initial interaction
time, that we did not specifically address participants’ specific racial
stereotypes, that small African-American sample size, the use of
self-reported EI, and differences in actors’ display of emotions.
• Future research should address equal representation of criminality
for all races in the media.
• Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize and regulate your
own emotions and the emotions of others.5
• The relationship between emotion recognition/intensity and racial
group is inconclusive; however, it suggests that we are better at
recognizing the emotions of those who are in our in-group.6
• Caucasians are generally found to be more accurate at recognizing
anger, sadness, and fear, yet the relationship between emotion
recognition sensitivity, race, and cultural stereotypes has received little
attention.1
• The media reinforces negative stereotypes of African-Americans
engendering false perceptions of African-Americans as deviants and
criminals, which may be associated with specific emotions linked to
criminality.3
• The current study examined how emotion recognition was related to
race.
RESULTS
Figure 1. Emotion Sensitivity: Y-axis is d’.
*denotes significant differences between groups (all ps < .05)
All d’ values are significantly different from 0 (all ps < .05)
RESULTS
THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE WHILE DETECTING SOCIAL INTERACTIONS
DAVID KOVALCHICK, JASON BROWN, BRIAN A. EILER, RACHEL W. KALLEN
SOCIAL IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY LAB, CENTER FOR COGNITION, ACTION AND PERCEPTION, UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Black
White
Black
White