Politica Pshycology

Emotion in Politics --- Lecture ---

(1) Previous encounters with emotions and politics in this course

(2) Varying approaches to the study of emotions

(3) Emotions and families of emotions

(4) The impact of emotions on politics

1

Previous encounters with emotions and politics

in this course

Previous encounters with emotions and politics in this course

Partisanship involves an affective attachment to a political party

“Hot cognitions” are automatic affective processes that spontaneously activate certain deeply seated considerations

Personality configurations entail specific ways in which people deal with emotion (e.g. the “emotional stability” and the “agreeableness” dimensions of the “Big Five”)

Emotional states of “liking” versus “disliking” constitute the most basic affective dimension of attitudes

2

Varying approaches to the study of emotions

“Outside-in” and “inside-out” approaches to the study of emotions

The “outside-in” approach

Approach-avoidance theory Appraisal theories

The “inside-out” approach

Neural process theories

The approach-avoidance theory

Affect is understood along a single positive-negative (like-dislike) dimension

In this approach, liking is the antecedent of approaching a stimulus people expect to be rewarding, and dislike leads to avoiding a stimulus

Appraisal theories

 Study the conscious and pre-conscious appraisals that trigger emotions

 Appraisals in these theories are cognitive interpretations of the significance of a situation for one’s goals

 Appraisal theories make finer (nominal) distinctions between different emotions (in contrast to the one-dimensional approach- avoid theory)

Neural process theories

Neural process theories study how neural systems generate emotions

Early work distinguishes two dimensions of affective appraisal resulting from neural processes – “positive” (classifying affect on a scale ranging from

stagnant to enthusiastic) – “negative” (classifying affect on a scale ranging from

calm to anxious) More recent research added a third dimension

– “anger” (classifying affect on a scale ranging from calm aversion, such as disgust, to heightened aversion, such as rage)

3

Emotions and families of emotions

Measuring emotions

Most frequently used measure: verbal self- reports

 Other measures that are used less frequently psychophysiological measures coding of facial expressions or other body movements

Discrete and dimensional perspectives on how emotions are organized

Families of emotions

Like-dislike (one-dimensional approach-avoidance theory)

Enthusiasm, hope, pride, and joy

Sadness and disappointment

Fear and anxiety

Calmness and serenity

Anger

Disgust

Shame, embarrassment, and guilt

4

The impact of emotions on politics

The impact of emotions on politics

 The vast majority of research studies the impact of emotions on political outcomes (rather than the impact of politics on emotions)

 Emotions (especially fear and anger) motivate people to get involved in politics (including both individual and collective action) – by creating “action tendencies”

 Emotions (and the “action tendencies they create) affect attitudes (for example: fear increases support for anti-terrorism measures)

 Emotions can activate and sustain both routes of preference formation distinguished by dual-process models (central and peripheral routes in the ELM; System 1 and System 2 in Kahneman’s model)

e.g., fear prompts people to seek more political information e.g., anger makes people seek less political information and focus more on

opinion-confirming sources

Emotion in politics --- Tutorial ---

(1) Q and A about the lecture

(2) Ideas for hypotheses and theories to discuss in first essay assignment?

1

Q and A about the lecture

2

Ideas for hypotheses and theories to discuss

in first essay assignment?

Essay assignments First Essay

You will need to complete an essay of 1000 words. This first essay is worth 40 % of your module mark; the minimum qualifying mark is 30. The essay is due on Thursday, March 28. It needs to be submitted through the module’s moodle page.

For the first essay, you should pick one of the theories discussed in class, and generate a specific testable hypothesis from that theory. Discuss the significance of the theory and explain how it sustains your hypothesis. Note an idea about how you would test your hypothesis, and conclude your essay with a critical assessment of at least one potential limitation or flaw of your theory and hypothesis.

Please consult the essay writing guidelines uploaded to the module’s moodle page for general information and expectations.

Second Essay

You will need to complete an essay of 1500 words. This second essay is worth 60 % of your module mark; the minimum qualifying mark is 30. The essay is due on Thursday, April 18. It needs to be submitted through the module’s moodle page.

For the second essay, elaborate on your first essay using your own ideas and the feedback you receive from your colleagues, including the feedback provided by the instructor. Specifically, condense the discussion of theory and hypothesis from your first essay as much as possible, and elaborate on the part of the essay in which you describe how you would test your hypothesis. In the second essay, you are expected to describe in more detail what exactly you would do to carry out your empirical test.

We will address questions of methodology that will help you describe your proposed method throughout the entire term. In addition, the final class session will provide a dedicated overview of various methodological approaches and tools that will further prepare you for completing the essay.

Key terms in research design (and take home points

for the essays) Descriptive inference

Causal inference

Hypothesis

Theory

Theoretical expectation