Emotional Rescue: How Affect Helps Partisans Overcome Collective Action Problems

Groenendyk, Eric W.; Banks, Antoine J.

doi:10.1111/pops.12045

Cited by 124 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Finally, Intergroup Emotions Theory (Leonard, Mackie, Moons, & Smith, ) also predicts that group‐based threats are particularly emotionally potent and lead to anger even when an individual does not feel personally targeted. Recent work confirms these findings in the political domain, discovering threats to group identity can powerfully trigger anger (Groenendyk & Banks, ), and anger can powerfully mobilize participation (Valentino et al, ).…”

Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 73%

Why the Sky Didn't Fall: Mobilizing Anger in Reaction to Voter ID Laws

Valentino

Neuner

2016

Political Psychology

111

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Since 2002, 26 U.S. states have passed laws that enhance restrictions on voters who intend to register and vote. Most have been sponsored by Republican legislators and passed by states with large Republican majorities. Proponents of such identification requirements argue that they are necessary to ensure the integrity of the electoral system by reducing voter fraud. Many Democrats have cried foul, arguing these laws are motivated by crass partisanship at best, and racial bias at worst, because they disproportionately disenfranchise minorities. Surprisingly, empirical evidence for significant demobilization, either in the aggregate or among Democrats specifically, has thus far failed to materialize. We suspect strong emotional reactions to the public debate about these laws may mobilize Democrats, counterbalancing the disenfranchising effect. We find support for this conjecture in a nationally representative survey and an experiment where news frames about voter identification (ID) laws are carefully manipulated.

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Section: Theory and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 73%

Why the Sky Didn't Fall: Mobilizing Anger in Reaction to Voter ID Laws

Valentino

Neuner

2016

Political Psychology

111

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“…Recent research suggests emotions are linked to both. First, as discussed earlier, party identification leads to group-level emotions that stimulate participation (Groenendyk & Banks, 2010;E. R. Smith et al, 2007).…”

Section: Emotion and Campaign Participationmentioning

confidence: 98%

Current Emotion Research in Political Science: How Emotions Help Democracy Overcome its Collective Action Problem

Groenendyk

2011

Emotion Review

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Though scholars have long acknowledged the vital role of affect in politics, recent research has sought to more thoroughly integrate emotions into models of political behavior. Emotions may prove to be the missing piece in a variety of puzzles with which political scientists have struggled for decades. At its core, democracy poses a collective action problem. For each individual citizen, the cost of productive political engagement often outweighs the additional policy benefits to be gained from such behavior. However, for a variety of reasons, emotions appear to motivate citizens to at times break out of "cold" individual utility calculation and engage in politics. Still, emotions may also bias information processing, so scholars should keep this in mind as we continue to build on our understanding of emotion's role in politics.

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“…Self-reported emotions can be sorted into very basic positive and negative dimensions that are equated with behavioral approach and avoidance tendencies. In politics, anger motivates political interest and protest activity, and positive enthusiasm is associated with political engagement (Groenendyk and Banks 2013;Marcus, Neuman, and MacKuen 2000;Smith, Cronin, and Kessler 2008;Valentino et al 2011;van Zomeren, Spears, and Leach 2008). In politics, anger motivates political interest and protest activity, and positive enthusiasm is associated with political engagement (Groenendyk and Banks 2013;Marcus, Neuman, and MacKuen 2000;Smith, Cronin, and Kessler 2008;Valentino et al 2011;van Zomeren, Spears, and Leach 2008).…”

Section: Expressive Partisanship and Action-oriented Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expressive Partisanship: Campaign Involvement, Political Emotion, and Partisan Identity

2015

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P arty identification is central to the study of American political behavior, yet there remains disagreement over whether it is largely instrumental or expressive in nature. We draw on social identity theory to develop the expressive model and conduct four studies to compare it to an instrumental explanation of campaign involvement. We find strong support for the expressive model: a multi-item partisan identity scale better accounts for campaign activity than a strong stance on subjectively important policy issues, the strength of ideological self-placement, or a measure of ideological identity. A series of experiments underscore the power of partisan identity to generate action-oriented emotions that drive campaign activity. Strongly identified partisans feel angrier than weaker partisans when threatened with electoral loss and more positive when reassured of victory. In contrast, those who hold a strong and ideologically consistent position on issues are no more aroused emotionally than others by party threats or reassurances. In addition, threat and reassurance to the party's status arouse greater anger and enthusiasm among partisans than does a threatened loss or victory on central policy issues. Our findings underscore the power of an expressive partisan identity to drive campaign involvement and generate strong emotional reactions to ongoing campaign events.

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Emotional Rescue: How Affect Helps Partisans Overcome Collective Action Problems

Cited by 124 publications

References 48 publications

Why the Sky Didn't Fall: Mobilizing Anger in Reaction to Voter ID Laws

Why the Sky Didn't Fall: Mobilizing Anger in Reaction to Voter ID Laws

Current Emotion Research in Political Science: How Emotions Help Democracy Overcome its Collective Action Problem

Expressive Partisanship: Campaign Involvement, Political Emotion, and Partisan Identity

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