Emotional Responses Shape the Substance of Information Seeking under Conditions of Threat

AuthorElizabeth J. Zechmeister,Jennifer L. Merolla,Daniel Zizumbo-Colunga,Travis G. Coan
Published date01 December 2021
Date01 December 2021
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920949320
Subject MatterArticles
2021, Vol. 74(4) 941 –954
https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920949320
Political Research Quarterly
© 2020 University of Utah
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DOI: 10.1177/1065912920949320
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Article
Political information plays an important role in opinion
formation, electoral decision making, and ultimately the
policies enacted by governments. While some people
seek as much political news as they can, most individuals
vary in terms of the information they acquire. Among
other factors, this variation can be affected by situations
that generate negative emotional states (Albertson and
Gadarian 2015; Brader 2006; Marcus, MacKuen, and
Neuman 2000). Affective intelligence models suggest
that individuals experiencing heightened anxiety or fear
will tend toward elevated levels of attention and the pri-
oritization of new information, more so than those who
enter a mode of judgment characterized by enthusiasm
(Marcus, MacKuen, and Neuman 2000; see also Brader
2006) or heightened anger/aversion (MacKuen et al.
2010). Scholars have relied on this research, as well as
other appraisal theory frameworks, to reach similar con-
clusions (Carver 2004; Harmon-Jones et al. 2009; Huddy,
Feldman, and Cassese 2007; Lerner and Keltner 2000;
Valentino et al. 2008). Although political psychologists
have documented exceptions and nuances, there exists a
general consensus that fear motivates more attentiveness
to information, while anger instead prompts individuals
to act (Brader, Marcus, and Miller 2011).
While important, the steady stream of discussion
regarding differences in political behavior conditional on
fear versus anger risks taking attention away from the fact
that high arousal emotions often evoke some greater degree
of attentiveness and information seeking (Brader, Marcus,
and Miller 2011; Schupp et al. 2004). Especially in infor-
mation-rich contexts, we argue that it is important to con-
sider another question: what implications does the relative
salience of fear versus anger have for the substance of
information seeking? We argue that both elevated fear and
elevated anger can motivate individuals to acquire threat-
relevant information; what differs is the type of informa-
tion that is sought. Political psychologists have examined
how emotional reactions affect information seeking
949320PRQXXX10.1177/1065912920949320Political Research QuarterlyCoan et al.
research-article2020
1University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, UK
2University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
3Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
4Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, Aguascalientes,
Aguascalientes, Mexico
Corresponding Author:
Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, Department of Political Science, Vanderbilt
University, PMB 0505, Nashville, TN 37203, USA.
Email: liz.zechmeister@vanderbilt.edu
Emotional Responses Shape the Substance
of Information Seeking under Conditions
of Threat
Travis G. Coan1, Jennifer L. Merolla2, Elizabeth J. Zechmeister3,
and Daniel Zizumbo-Colunga4
Abstract
Menacing news inclines individuals to acquire information, and research has explored how emotional reactions such
as fear or anger condition this process. While scholars have debated the relevance of fear and anger for levels of
attentiveness and learning in politics, fewer studies consider how variation in emotional responses can shape the
substance of information searches in times of threat. We posit that heightened fear motivates interest in defense-
oriented information among threatened individuals, while heightened anger motivates interest in aggression-oriented
information. To test these hypotheses, we focus on international terrorist threat because of its known tendency to
elevate both anger and fear. We use data that permit a behavioral measure of information seeking, via an experiment
embedded within a Dynamic Process Tracing Environment (DPTE) platform. Within this information-rich context,
exposure to terrorist threat motivates a search for relevant information. Furthermore, we find that while an induction
to elevate anger prompts more immediate attention to aggression-oriented information, an induction to elevate fear
is more effective in steering attention toward defense-oriented information.
Keywords
political information, threat, emotions, fear, anger, terrorism

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