sThe Role of Emotions in Political Communication
Week 1
Emotion
Discrete and temporary responses to stimuli that can influence one’s
cognitive appraisals, psychophysiology, attitudes and behavior.
Affect
Construct that characterizes level/valence of a mood or emotion. Broader
concept than emotion or mood (positive versus negative)
Mood
State of being that is more generalized and enduring and, like emotion,
can influence one’s processing of information.
The 3 key elements of emotion
1. Subjective Experience
2. Physiological Response
3. Behavioral Response
Guiding questions
- Can you choose to feel a specific emotion?
- Do you really have control over your emotions, or just how you
respond to them?
- What things outside of your control influence your emotion?
1
,Political communication
Political communication is an interactive process concerning the
transmission of information among politicians, the media and the public.
Key question:
What is the role of emotions in public debate: are they part of the problem
of part of the solution?
Emotional media = Emotional citizens?
The media that we are exposed to today is very emotional. Some negative
emotions are linked to clicking through lots of negative emotional media.
So, what are emotions and how do they work?
For centuries scholars have tried to come up with an unequivocal answer
but largely failed to do so. Scherer (2005) even views the goal of
specifying what an emotion is as a “notorious problem” because scholars
approach and study emotions from different angles.
Why should you care?
- Emotions can be used to manipulate and mislead
- Emotions can lead to perhaps unintended and/or unexpected
outcomes
- Are you susceptible to being influenced by the media and political
communication.
Media effect dimensions
What can news media influence?
- Knowledge
- Opinions
- Attitudes
- Behavior
- Perceptions, stereotypes, prejudice
- Emotions
We consider emotions to be mediators.
I: The beginnings: Powerful media (1900 – 1930)
2
, 1. Observation of enormous popularity of media
2. Principles of propaganda; media as manipulators
3. Psychological and biological theories
Stimulus-response model
Media inject certain thoughts in people’s heads. Way to simplistic
SR
II: Considering the Black Box: (a little bit less) Powerful media
(1940 – 1950)
1. Discovering individual differences in the ‘black box’
2. Intervening factors: existing attitudes, opinions etc.
3. No isolated individuals but connected members of small networks
S Black box R
III: Limited effects
IV: Return to moderately powerful effects
1. Shift to long-term effects of media; effects on social change
2. Increasing knowledge gap; cultivation of fear through the media
Knowledge gap: everyone gets knowledge from consuming media but the
rate depends on the skills you already have.
3
, Cultivation theory: Media focusses on negative items because they are
more sensational, and this influences our way of looking at the door.
V: Return to powerful effects
Agenda-setting and framing: Powerful media effects (but not for
everyone)
1. Agenda-setting: Media affect what people think about
2. Framing: Media affect how we think of political issues
3. Not everybody is equally affected – who is affected? (= moderators)
4. Underlying effect mechanisms – how are people affected? (=
mediators)
Agenda-setting:
The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to
think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think
about.
Framing
Framing refers to the observation that media can portray one and the
same topic in very different ways, emphasizing certain evaluations or only
parts of an issue at the expense of possible others.
What’s the difference?
Agenda setting looks on story selection as a determinant of public
perceptions of issue importance.
Framing focuses not on which topics or issues are selected for coverage by
the news media, but instead on the particular ways those issues are
presented.
Difference between whether we think about an issue (agenda-setting)
and how we think about it (framing)
= “To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make
them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a
particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation,
and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.”
Frames
Simpler models given to the audience to facilitate the understanding.
- Inevitably only a partial representation of reality
- Reporting requires decisions as to what aspects of reality to
represent
- Construction of an issue for an audience, more than just an isolated
argument
Emphasis / issue framing
Sociology – Goffman (1974)
- People cannot understand the world fully but try to make sense of it
4
Week 1
Emotion
Discrete and temporary responses to stimuli that can influence one’s
cognitive appraisals, psychophysiology, attitudes and behavior.
Affect
Construct that characterizes level/valence of a mood or emotion. Broader
concept than emotion or mood (positive versus negative)
Mood
State of being that is more generalized and enduring and, like emotion,
can influence one’s processing of information.
The 3 key elements of emotion
1. Subjective Experience
2. Physiological Response
3. Behavioral Response
Guiding questions
- Can you choose to feel a specific emotion?
- Do you really have control over your emotions, or just how you
respond to them?
- What things outside of your control influence your emotion?
1
,Political communication
Political communication is an interactive process concerning the
transmission of information among politicians, the media and the public.
Key question:
What is the role of emotions in public debate: are they part of the problem
of part of the solution?
Emotional media = Emotional citizens?
The media that we are exposed to today is very emotional. Some negative
emotions are linked to clicking through lots of negative emotional media.
So, what are emotions and how do they work?
For centuries scholars have tried to come up with an unequivocal answer
but largely failed to do so. Scherer (2005) even views the goal of
specifying what an emotion is as a “notorious problem” because scholars
approach and study emotions from different angles.
Why should you care?
- Emotions can be used to manipulate and mislead
- Emotions can lead to perhaps unintended and/or unexpected
outcomes
- Are you susceptible to being influenced by the media and political
communication.
Media effect dimensions
What can news media influence?
- Knowledge
- Opinions
- Attitudes
- Behavior
- Perceptions, stereotypes, prejudice
- Emotions
We consider emotions to be mediators.
I: The beginnings: Powerful media (1900 – 1930)
2
, 1. Observation of enormous popularity of media
2. Principles of propaganda; media as manipulators
3. Psychological and biological theories
Stimulus-response model
Media inject certain thoughts in people’s heads. Way to simplistic
SR
II: Considering the Black Box: (a little bit less) Powerful media
(1940 – 1950)
1. Discovering individual differences in the ‘black box’
2. Intervening factors: existing attitudes, opinions etc.
3. No isolated individuals but connected members of small networks
S Black box R
III: Limited effects
IV: Return to moderately powerful effects
1. Shift to long-term effects of media; effects on social change
2. Increasing knowledge gap; cultivation of fear through the media
Knowledge gap: everyone gets knowledge from consuming media but the
rate depends on the skills you already have.
3
, Cultivation theory: Media focusses on negative items because they are
more sensational, and this influences our way of looking at the door.
V: Return to powerful effects
Agenda-setting and framing: Powerful media effects (but not for
everyone)
1. Agenda-setting: Media affect what people think about
2. Framing: Media affect how we think of political issues
3. Not everybody is equally affected – who is affected? (= moderators)
4. Underlying effect mechanisms – how are people affected? (=
mediators)
Agenda-setting:
The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to
think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think
about.
Framing
Framing refers to the observation that media can portray one and the
same topic in very different ways, emphasizing certain evaluations or only
parts of an issue at the expense of possible others.
What’s the difference?
Agenda setting looks on story selection as a determinant of public
perceptions of issue importance.
Framing focuses not on which topics or issues are selected for coverage by
the news media, but instead on the particular ways those issues are
presented.
Difference between whether we think about an issue (agenda-setting)
and how we think about it (framing)
= “To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make
them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a
particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation,
and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.”
Frames
Simpler models given to the audience to facilitate the understanding.
- Inevitably only a partial representation of reality
- Reporting requires decisions as to what aspects of reality to
represent
- Construction of an issue for an audience, more than just an isolated
argument
Emphasis / issue framing
Sociology – Goffman (1974)
- People cannot understand the world fully but try to make sense of it
4
