Touching the base: heart-warming ads from the 2016 U.S. election moved viewers to partisan tears

Seibt, Beate; Schubert, Thomas W.; Zickfeld, Janis; Fiske, Alan Page

doi:10.1080/02699931.2018.1441128

Cited by 24 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Haidt (2003, p. 282) indicates that elevation is recognizable by the “warm or glowing feeling in the chest,” along with “tingling.” There are many measures of elevation, but most of them include ratings of being moved , while many include sensations and signs such as warmth in the chest, a lump in the throat, and goosebumps or chills (Pohling and Diessner, 2016; Thomson and Siegel, 2017; see Zickfeld et al, in press). These sensations and signs and labels are among the sensations and signs and labels that many previous studies have shown to characterize kama muta (e.g., Schubert et al, 2016; Seibt et al, 2018; Zickfeld et al, 2019). Thus, the elevation construct seems to overlap considerably with kama muta.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Accordingly, it is characterized by research participants as a predominantly positive experience whose motivational outcomes include wanting to hug someone, to share the experience again and do so together with others (Zickfeld et al, 2019). The kama muta construct has been conceptually and empirically distinguished from other, broader emotional valences such as happiness and sadness (Schubert et al, 2016; Fiske et al, 2017a,b,c; Seibt et al, 2017a,b, 2018; Zickfeld et al, 2017b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Too Cute for Words: Cuteness Evokes the Heartwarming Emotion of Kama Muta

et al. 2019

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A configuration of infantile attributes including a large head, large eyes, with a small nose and mouth low on the head comprise the visual baby schema or Kindchenschema that English speakers call “cute.” In contrast to the stimulus gestalt that evokes it, the evoked emotional response to cuteness has been little studied, perhaps because the emotion has no specific name in English, Norwegian, or German. We hypothesize that cuteness typically evokes kama muta, a social-relational emotion that in other contexts is often labeled in English as being moved or touched, heartwarming, nostalgia, patriotic feeling, being touched by the Spirit, the feels, etcetera. What evokes kama muta is sudden intensification of a communal sharing (CS) relationship, either CS between the person and another, or CS between observed others. In accord with kama muta theory, we hypothesize that a kama muta response to cuteness results from a sudden feeling of CS with the cute target. In colloquial terms, the perceiver adores the cute kittens and their heart goes out to them. When a person perceives cute targets interacting affectionately – that is, intensifying CS between them – this should strengthen a kama muta response. We experimentally investigated these predictions in two studies ( N = 356). Study 1 revealed that videos of cute targets evoked significantly more kama muta than videos of targets that were not particularly cute. Study 2, pre-registered, found that, as hypothesized, when cute targets interacted affectionately they evoked more kama muta and were humanized more than when they were not interacting. We measured the level of kama muta by self-reports of sensations and signs and of feelings labeled heartwarming, being moved , and being touched . Participants’ ratings of kama muta were positively correlated with reported cuteness. In addition, as in our previous research on kama muta elicited by other types of stimuli, trait empathic concern predicted kama muta responses and perceived cuteness. The studies thus provide first evidence that cute stimuli evoke the heartwarming emotion of kama muta.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Too Cute for Words: Cuteness Evokes the Heartwarming Emotion of Kama Muta

et al. 2019

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“…Various different emotions can be targeted. They include negative emotions like anger, contempt, disgust and fear (Fridkin & Kenney, 2012), as well as distinctly positive emotions like awe or what is called being moved in English vernacular (Seibt, Schubert, Zickfeld & Fiske, 2019).…”

Section: Emotional Campaigning In Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Being moved is especially evoked by somewhat longer ads that include narrative and praise a specific political candidate (see e.g., "Progress is on the ballot" from the U.S. presidential election of 2016; accessible via OSF, https://osf.io/v3ecg/). Twenty one percent of Brader's (2006) 1425 analyzed political ads were rated to evoke compassion, which shares relevant traits with being moved, and moving content was additionally explicitly found in viral political ads of the U.S. presidential election in 2016 (Seibt et al, 2019).…”

Section: Emotional Campaigning In Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Campaigning in Politics: Being Moved and Anger in Political Ads Motivate to Support Candidate and Party

Grüning¹,

Tw²

2021

Preprint

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Political campaigning is an inherent part of politics to recruit support from voters. Video advertisement for a political candidate or party has been a widely used method for many years, distributed via television and online, including social media. This type of advertisement attempts to recruit support by presenting convincing arguments and evoking various emotions about the candidate, opponents, and policy proposals. In the present paper, we review existing work on what emotions are most prevalent, focusing particularly on anger and enthusiasm. We discuss recent arguments and evidence that a specific social emotion, namely the concept kama muta, plays a role in political advertisements. In vernacular language, kama muta is typically labeled being moved or touched. Seminal video examples from the 2016 U.S. presidential campaigns are known to evoke this emotion. We compare anger and kama muta theoretically and discuss how they can influence voters’ willingness to support a candidate. We then, for the first time, compare kama muta and anger empirically in the same study. Specifically, we showed American participants short political ads from the 2018 U.S. midterm elections that either evoked anger or kama muta and came from either Democratic or Republican candidates. We assessed participants' degree of being angered and moved by the videos and their motivation for three types of political support: ideational, financial and personal. Participants were more angered by the selected anger-evoking videos and more moved by the selected moving videos of the party which they identified with more. They were also more motivated to support the advertised candidate and party in different ways if either emotion was elicited. If an emotion was evoked, its effect on political support was largely independent from the prior support for the party. In other words, elicitation, but not impact, of an emotion is moderated by prior social identification in the context of political advertisement. We discuss limitations of the method and implications of the results for future research and practice.

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“…That does not mean that the losing candidate's feelings and those of her or his followers are not marked by a range of emotions such as decreased happiness and increased sadness and disappointment in the aftermath (Krizan, Miller, & Johar, 2010), just that the losers must wait until the next electoral cycle to compete. Presidential elections often elicit stronger feelings and expectations towards the candidates than do other elections (Seibt, Schubert, Zickfeld & Fiske, 2018). Since at least the advent of television, individuals often feel stronger emotional connection with putative leaders than to the political parties and their policy agendas (Grabe & Bucy, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in the Emotional Response to Smiles of 2012 Presidential Candidates During the Election.

Pa¹,

Ep²

2019

Preprint

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Little research has considered the emotional response of the voting public to a politician’s smile and whether the outcome of an election mitigates this experience. This study examines changes in self-reported happiness, anger, and distress to different types of smiles by either President Barack Obama or his opponent Mitt Romney immediately prior to the 2012 presidential election and again in its aftermath. How does the public respond emotionally to the facial displays made by the winners and losers once the election is decided? To ensure a representative sample an internet platform collected responses to different types of smiles made by each candidate before and after the election. The findings revealed differences in the emotional responses from followers of both candidates. Obama’s followers reported an increase to happiness when shown examples of his smile after the election and no change in response to Romney smiles. However, a Romney’s followers reported a minimal change in emotional response to his facial displays but a substantial increase in anger and distress toward Obama’s smiles post-election. This finding is important as it sheds light on the emotional shifts that may occur in voters throughout elections.

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Touching the base: heart-warming ads from the 2016 U.S. election moved viewers to partisan tears

Cited by 24 publications

References 37 publications

Too Cute for Words: Cuteness Evokes the Heartwarming Emotion of Kama Muta

Too Cute for Words: Cuteness Evokes the Heartwarming Emotion of Kama Muta

Emotional Campaigning in Politics: Being Moved and Anger in Political Ads Motivate to Support Candidate and Party

Changes in the Emotional Response to Smiles of 2012 Presidential Candidates During the Election.

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