Abstract

Research identifies contradictory effects of anger in political communication, engendering heuristic processing of information that exacerbates partisan bias in some situations, but increasing attention and deepening information processing in others. This study addressed these contradictions by positing subjective hope as a moderator of anger’s effects on message processing and persuasion. Employing an experimental design (N = 538) in the context of the U.S. immigration debate, the study assessed two long-standing mechanisms associated with the persuasive effects of anger—psychological reactance and message elaboration—with subjective hope as a moderator of those processes. Results confirmed that experienced anger increases reactance and superficial information processing. Critically, however, subjective hope emerged as a key moderator capable of reversing anger’s negative effects. These findings offer an important clarification of the boundary conditions governing the effects of anger and highlight the need for further study of interacting emotional processes in political communication.

中文翻译：

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透过玫瑰色眼镜看到红色：主观希望作为主持人的愤怒劝说性影响的主持人

摘要

研究确定了愤怒在政治传播中的矛盾作用，从而导致对信息的启发式处理，在某些情况下加剧了党派的偏见，而在其他情况下却增加了注意力并加深了信息处理。这项研究通过将主观希望作为愤怒对消息处理和说服力影响的调和者，提出了主观希望。该研究在美国移民辩论中采用了实验设计（N = 538），评估了与愤怒的说服力相关的两种长期机制-心理反应和信息细化-主观希望是这些过程的主持人。结果证实，经历过的愤怒会增加电抗和表面信息处理。但至关重要的是，主观希望成为能够扭转愤怒负面影响的关键主持人。这些发现提供了对控制愤怒影响的边界条件的重要澄清，并强调了需要进一步研究政治传播中的情感过程的相互作用。