Possessing potential weapons (still) heightens anger perception: Replicating and extending a test of error management theory.

ABSTRACT: Error Management Theory (EMT) hypothesizes that humans are functionally biased to err on the side of the least costly mistake when making judgments under uncertainty. Applying EMT to emotion perception, previous studies found that people perceive individuals holding everyday objects with potentially lethal affordances to be both higher in state anger and more anger-prone, relative to individuals holding control objects. Here, we conduct a direct replication of one such study examining these effects [13] and exploratorily test whether friends of an individual possessing a potentially lethal tool are also perceived as angrier-and hence more dangerous-in a "reverse-halo" effect. Participants (N = 476) were presented an image of an individual depicted as an avid cook and either holding or near

SUBMITTER: Moser C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12533867 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature