The influence of affective behavior on impression formation in interactions between black cancer patients and their oncologists.

OBJECTIVE: Black patients and their physicians tend to form relatively negative impressions of each other, and these may contribute to racial disparities in health outcomes. The current research tested the hypothesis that the interaction between positive and negative affective behavior predicts the most positive impressions in clinic visits between Black patients and their oncologists.

METHOD: Naïve coders rated patients' and oncologists' positive and negative affective behavior in thin slices from 74 video recorded clinic visits. We examined whether (a) physician positive affect, negative affect, or their interaction predicted patients' perceptions of patient-centeredness, trustworthiness, and confidence in recommended treatments and (b) patient positive affect, negative affect, or their interaction predicted physicians' perceptions of patient cognitive ability, likelihood of treatment adherence, and likelihood of treatment tolerance. We also tested whether affective behavior mediated relationships between race-related attitudes and post-visit impressions or influenced post-visit impressions independently of attitudes.

RESULTS: When oncologists displayed relatively high levels of both positive and negative affect, patients were more confident in recommended treatments but did not rate physicians higher in patient centeredness or trustworthiness. When patients expressed relatively high levels of positive and negative affect, oncologists perceived patients to be higher in cognitive ability and more likely to adhere to treatment recommendations, but no more likely to tolerate treatments. Affective behavior influenced impressions independently of race-related attitudes.

CONCLUSIONS: Positive and negative affective behaviors jointly contribute to impression formation in clinic visits between Black patients and oncologists, and may have implications for patient treatment and outcomes in this underserved patient population.