Fear, Anger and Political Ideologies

How Fear and Anger Effects Different Political Ideologies

NEUROSCIENCE NEWSJANUARY 13, 2019

Summary: A new study reports the emotional underpinnings of political ideology motivates how the people seek and process information about election races and climate change.

Source: University at Buffalo.

Fear and anger related to the 2016 presidential election and climate change, one of the campaign’s major issues, had different effects on the way conservatives and liberals processed information about the two topics, according to the results of a study by a University at Buffalo communication researcher.

The findings, published in the journal Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly,suggest that certain emotional underpinnings of political ideology motived how the electorate sought and processed information about the race itself and global warming.

“This has important implications for how political dialogue is shaped,” said Janet Yang, the paper’s lead author and an expert in the communication of risk information related to science, health and the environment. “It’s not just what the candidates are saying; it’s also how we communicate with one another.” One point to consider is how political speech evokes intentional and unintentional reactions./.../