A Systems View of Emotion in Socio-political Context

Abstract

Most work to date in psychology and related sciences has examined simple, unidirectional causal processes of emotion affecting socio-political context or vice versa. In this classic, mechanistic view of science, each empirical observation stands on its own as a piece of some grander, not yet understandable, puzzle of nature. There have been repeated calls to eschew classic approaches in favor of systems meta-theory in psychology and related sciences. In this paper, we join these calls by arguing that systems meta-theory can better enable the study of emotions in socio-political contexts. We offer a brief primer on systems meta-theory, delineating three key beneficial features: multi-leveled, complex, and dynamic. Viewing emotion as a system of systems—within the person, their relationships (to others), and within the world (locally and globally)—enables fresh theory, method, and statistical analysis well suited to the study of emotion in a socio-political context.

‘We despair’: Examining the role of political despair for collective action and well‐being

“…These differences await further consideration. These points about context, though, are consistent with recent calls for a systems meta‐theoretic approach which invites us to consider how inter‐individual, inter‐group and societal processes interact in ways that are dynamic, non‐linear and ‘noisy’ (Bou Zeineddine & Leach, 2021; Leach & Bou Zeineddine, 2021; Thomas et al., 2022).…”

Emotions in misinformation studies: Distinguishing affective state from emotional response and misinformation recognition from acceptance

“…Especially approaches studying emotions in more ecological environments like social media seem promising: they have the advantage of capturing large-scale patterns of actual rather than forced exposure and can zoom in on subpopulations that actively seek out misinformation. Such approaches describe complex phenomena in a larger, contextual system -which makes sense when we understand emotions as products of social dynamics (Leach & Bou Zeineddine, 2021) and misinformation as part of a polarized information ecosystem (Lazer et al, 2018;Watts et al, 2021).…”

“…Therefore, we first plotted graphs for the four rated emotions fitting both linear and curvilinear relationships (see Figure 4). Allowing for non-linearity is in line with a systems approach to emotions (Leach & Bou Zeineddine, 2021). The scatterplots show a linear positive relationship between anxiety and accuracy ratings for false items (b = 0.21, 95%CI[0.17, 0.24], p < .001, see Table S6/7 for detailed results), resulting in a negative relationship with discernment (b = -0.18, [-0.23, -0.13], p < .001).…”

The WEIRD Microcosm of Microaggression Research: Toward a Cultural-Psychological Approach

“…Some articles in the special issue did indeed highlight the influence of such events on microaggressions. For instance, Waxman Unfortunately, beyond such referrals, no central attention was given to the importance of these highly impactful periodic events on not only the expression, but also the perception, of microaggressions (for a systems-view on the psychology of resistance during such events, see Leach & Zeineddine, 2021). Indeed, when one considers the explosive surge of anti-Muslim sentiments post-9/11, or the sudden rise of the 'Stop Asian Hate' movement as a response to a culture of racializing the Covid virus, we may start to pay particular attention to how these (temporally highly relevant) events moderate…”

“…And perhaps more importantly, Singh et al (2021) explicitly advised scholars to let “current sociocultural and political situations” guide scale development. Unfortunately, beyond such referrals, no central attention was given to the importance of these highly impactful periodic events on not only the expression but also the perception of microaggressions (for a systems view on the psychology of resistance during such events, see Leach & Zeineddine, 2021). Indeed, when one considers the explosive surge of anti-Muslim sentiments post-9/11, or the sudden rise of the “Stop Asian Hate” movement as a response to a culture of racializing the Covid virus, we may start to pay particular attention to how these (temporally highly relevant) events moderate cultural schemas by conditioning new information with existing social categories through the surge of cultural artifacts that prime the salience of these categories.…”