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The Role Of Emotions In Political Communication Notes
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Role of EmotionsLecture 1
Emotional media = Emotional citizens?
Media coverage is becoming increasingly emotional/focused on emotions.
Emotions sell! Good for business side of media.
Politicians tend to be emotional in their speeches, which might spill towards
citizens who then become very reactive and emotional.
Is this a problem or a blessing?
Renewed interest in political engagement; topics are usually politicised.
On the other hand, can create a wedge within society and turn citizens
against each other.
Is the media to blame?
Since they portray it, they might be firing up people to be highly emotional
and irrational.
Media Effects
Media coverage can affect multiple dimensions:
Knowledge: adds or changes what you know about things.
Opinions: changing your opinion on topic, through framing for instance.
Attitudes: changing how you act, core beliefs; harder to achieve.
Behaviour: changing your actions; hardest to achieve
Perceptions, stereotypes, prejudice, etc.
Emotions
Emotions can often be influenced by valenced news frames and then cause a change
on political opinions, attitudes, behaviour, perceptions, etc.
If media coverage is able to trigger emotions, such as anger and fear, then they
should affect knowledge, opinions, attitudes and/or behaviour.
History of Media Effects Research
Powerful Media Paradigm (1900-1930)
1. Observation of enormous popularity of media
2. Principles of propaganda; media as manipulators
3. Psychological and biological theories
Stimulus-Response Model; you see/experience something and you respond immediately.
Hypodermic Needle Effect.
Considering the Black Box: a little bit less Powerful Media Paradigm (1940-1950s)
, 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
Limited Effects Paradigm (1970s)
Maybe we are able to control what effects we want media to have on us.
1. Shift to long-term effects of media; social change
2. Increasing knowledge gap; Cultivation of fear through the media
Return To Powerful Effects (1980s-Present)
1. Agenda-setting: media affect what people think about
2. Framing: media can 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)
Types of Frames
Emphasis/Issue framing: people cannot understand the world fully but try to make
sense of it. To efficiently process information, people apply interpretive schemas or
frames to classify information.
Ex: a study using “global warming” vs “climate change” in the exact same
article had different results; those who read “global warming” felt more
pressed to act and were more scared.
Equivalency framing: different presentations of identical decision-making scenarios
influence people’s choices and evaluations; gain and loss framing.
Ex: 80% survive vs 20% die
Generic news frames usually used by journalists:
Responsibility frame: government or individual responsibility; suggested
problem solution, call for action
Conflict frame: disagreement; two or more sides; blame/conflict;
winners & losers
Human interest frame: human face; personal impact on lives; sympathy/pity;
personal/private aspects
Economic consequences frame: financial gains/losses;
costs/expenses; future consequences
Morality frame: moral message; social prescriptions how to behave
There are also crisis-specific frames, which are related to a single event.
Issue-specific frames
Thematic framing: statistics and figures, broader context, more factual
, Episodic framing: individual story, more emotional.
Since frames affect public opinion, they can consequently affect politicians and a
country’s policies.
Role of Emotions
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