Emotions in politics: not the usual pattern
People often feel strongly about politics and this drives their behaviour. For instance, anxiety often motivates people to learn more about a political issue and anger brings us to the voting booth. But we know relatively little about where these emotions come from or how to predict them. Political scientist Isabella Rebasso studied political emotions and found they do not follow the usual pattern of emotions, as we know them in everyday life. While in our personal lives there is a clear distinction between different emotions, each guiding us to deal effectively with a specific social situation, in politics all negative emotions are strikingly similar to each other. 'Emotions are how we react to our surroundings,' explains Rebasso. 'They guide us in dealing with social situations by making us feel motivated to respond in a certain way.
