Feeling within reason How appraisals shape emotional responses to politics

Emotions play a pivotal role in politics, and we often argue that emotions drive people’s political behavior, from their attitudes and vote choice to their participation in political events. For instance, recent media reports of "angry Dutch farmers" protesting environmental regulations, or students expressing "anger towards Macron" in French protests. But what drives these emotions about politics? Do emotions, as theories predict, really come from how people appraise their situation? This dissertation shows that it is not the case. Emotion labels do not match appraisals, as they do in non-political situations. Moreover, people vary in the extent to which they use these labels.
Two core research questions drive this dissertation. First, do emotions in politics correspond to distinct appraisal profiles of political issues and events? Second, how does political sophistication, encompassing interest, knowledge, and confidence, influence emotional responses to politics?
Using the Component Process Model (CPM), Chapter 2 demonstrates that emotions about politics do not have the same predictable links between emotion labels and appraisals as emotions in general. Chapter 3 shows that we can elicit anger in participants if we use its appraisals profile in political messages.
Chapter 4 and 5 reveal that people who are more knowledgeable and interested in politics, i.e., political sophisticates, report to be more emotional about politics. This is not necessarily because they have a better understanding of political issues and make more consistent appraisals than the less sophisticated. Rather than factual knowledge, confidence in knowledge drives emotional responses to politics.
This dissertation sheds light on the complex roots of emotions in the political domain. Based on the findings of this dissertation, I argue that to truly understand what drives emotions in politics, we need to steer away from applying psychological theories of emotions to emotions in politics. Rather, we need a theory of political emotions.