Affect and Cognition in Party Identification

Despite the centrality of party identification in understandings of political behavior in the United States, there is an unacknowledged disparity between our theories and measurement of the phenomenon. The traditional method of measuring party identification relies on supplying cognitive cues by explicitly asking respondents to "think" about their partisanship. The Michigan theory of party identification, in contrast, assumes that partisanship is primarily affective. Using a survey experiment, we explore the effects of asking respondents to feel rather than think about their party identification. The new questions reveal that the electorate is more Republican than previously thought. Response timers show that respondents take longer to answer the new items, suggesting that they are surveying a wider and deeper array of considerations. These results serve to revive many of our traditional conceptions of how party identity works while also opening the door for new research questions.     

Emotional Rescue: How Affect Helps Partisans Overcome Collective Action Problems

Why does party identification motivate citizens to participate in politics? From a theoretical standpoint, it is in a partisan's self‐interest to free ride on the efforts of others. Yet, mere identification with a party is enough to motivate many people to overcome this structural hurdle. We theorize that, by virtue of aligning one's self with a party, individuals become more likely to react to their political environment with anger and enthusiasm rather than fear. Anger and enthusiasm are associated with approach and continuation of current behavior, while fear triggers behavior reconsideration. In short, party identification stimulates participation via anger and enthusiasm. On the other hand, fear produces thought but not much action. We find support for our model using data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) and an original laboratory experiment.     

The Emotional Foundation of Political Cognition: The Impact of Extrinsic Anxiety on the Formation of Political Tolerance Judgments

Common sense recognizes emotion's ability to influence judgments. We argue that affective processes, in addition to generating feeling states, also influence how political cognition is manifested. Drawing on the theory of affective intelligence, we examine the role that anxiety plays in how and when people rely on predispositions and when they rely on contemporaneous information in making political tolerance judgments. We report on two experimental studies to test our arguments. In the first study we find that extrinsic anxiety generates a resistance response among subjects who hold a strong predisposition and a receptive response among those who do not. In the second study we present subjects with explicit "frames" exposing them to a pro- or anti-free speech message. We find that extrinsic anxiety enhances responsiveness to frames while an absence of anxiety diminishes the impact of these frames. Taken together these results show that affective processes shape how people make political judgments.     

The Importance of Context in the Genetic Transmission of U.S. Party Identification

In this study, we discuss one example where behavior genetic findings vary greatly across political contexts. We present original findings on how party identification is heritable around the 2008 election on a sample of twins from Minnesota. As this is in contrast with findings from the late 1980s and with how a mid‐2000 study interpreted their results, we explain how the increasing partisan ideological polarization could be responsible for these seemingly contradictory findings. In the Minnesota sample, we show a genetic correlation between party identification and ideology, a finding consistent in the political science literature. We highlight how heritability of political characteristics, like all others, is population specific and highly context dependent stressing its nondeterministic nature.     

Dynamics of Interpersonal Political Environment and Party Identification: Longitudinal Studies of Voting in Japan and New Zealand

The dynamical systems theory of groups claims that interpersonal political environment and party identification are dynamically interrelated to provide heuristics under uncertainty. Panel data over the course of a year examined the longitudinal dynamics between social networks, social identifications, and voting behavior among a national sample of registered voters in Japan and a regional sample in Wellington, New Zealand. Respondents with more stable party identification had greater stability in the political preferences of their interpersonal network in both countries; moreover, stability in party identification was predicted by interpersonal political environment and older age in both countries. Stability of party identification predicted voting consistency in both countries, whereas stability of interpersonal political environment made an independent contribution to voting consistency in Japan only. There were cultural differences in levels of interpersonal political environment stability, but the amount of political discussion and ideological stability did not make independent contributions to any of the three main variables. Results provided support for the dynamical systems theory of groups.     

Masculinity and Emotionality: An Investigation of Men's Primary and Secondary Emotional Responding

In this study, we investigated the role of masculinity in men's affect intensity and men's fear of emotions. Men's masculine ideology and self-reported masculine gender role stress were assessed as cognitive and experiential factors of adherence to traditional masculine gender norms. Masculine ideology was negatively related to men's global affect intensity. However, on a 3-factor model of affect intensity, only negative reactivity was significantly related to masculine ideology. Both masculine ideology and masculine gender role stress were positively related to men's fear of emotions. Results are discussed in the context of theories of gender differences in emotion.     

Toward an Integrative Perspective on Distinct Positive Emotions for Political Action: Analyzing,Comparing, Evaluating,and Synthesizing Three Theoretical Perspectives

Which emotions explain why people engage in political action (e.g., voting, protesting)? To answer this question, theory and research in psychology and political science predominantly focused on distinct negative emotions such as anger. The current article conceptually explores the motivational potential of distinct positive emotions by developing an integrative perspective that specifies which positive emotions can be differentiated (i.e., their form), which function these emotions have, and which implications these have for explaining political action. To this end, I analyze, compare, evaluate, and synthesize three approaches to positive emotions (affective intelligence theory, appraisal theories of emotion, and broaden-and-build theory). This perspective generates new hypotheses for the field to test, including the role played by distinct positive emotions such as joy, inspiration, interest, hope, and pride in motivating political action. I discuss how this perspective may help restore a balance in research on emotions and political action by focusing on the motivational potential of distinct positive emotions.     

Mild Affective Shifts and Creativity: Effects on Idea Generation,Evaluation, and Implementation Planning

This study investigated the impact of mild shifts in affective tone (i.e., pleasant vs. unpleasant) and arousal (i.e., high vs. low) on three creative processes. Undergraduates read short stories designed to induce affective shifts and then were asked to generate solutions to a complex business problem. Shifts in affective tone and arousal interacted to influence idea generation and implementation planning, but not idea evaluation. The strongest creative performance was exhibited by participants who experienced a stable and pleasantly toned, low-arousal (i.e., relaxed) state and by those who shifted to an unpleasantly toned, high-arousal (i.e., angry) state. In contrast, those who shifted to an unpleasantly toned, low-arousal (i.e., sad) state or a pleasantly toned, high-arousal (i.e., happy) state tended to exhibit poorer creative performance. These results demonstrate the need to revisit the popular conception that organizations should promote intense levels of pleasant affect to enhance employee creativity.     

Symptom-positive and symptom-negative items in the state-trait anxiety inventory: A comparison and replication

Substantially higher mean scores on symptom-negatively versus symptom-positively worded items have consistently been reported in the literature for the balanced Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory. In this study we aimed at replicating and comparing these findings for the Dutch adaptation of the inventory. Results indicated significantly higher mean subscale scores for symptom-negative as opposed to symptompositive items of both the Trait and State version, across sexes and age groups as well as across different levels of distress in students, policemen and psychiatric out-patients. Positive-negative mean difference scores were consistently larger for the State than for the Trait version. State and Trait mean difference scores were found to be mainly confined to symptom-positive subscales. Scale intercorrelations were lowest between symptom-positive and symptom-negative subscales both within and across measures. Factor analyzing the combined versions identified separate symptom-negative and symptom-positive factors, tentatively labeled “absence of positive affect” and “presence of negative affect”. Several explanations of the findings among which item-intensity specificity, the response style of social desirability and the model of positive and negative affectivity are discussed.     

浅谈情绪智力与人工智能中的感情计算

基于情绪智力是加工、处理情绪及情绪信息的能力,而人工智能中的感情计算是要赋予计算机与人互动过程中情感信息的加工能力,人脑处理情绪信息的能力与电脑处理情绪信息的能力可以进行类比。近几年来,人工智能专家已经认识到情绪智力在感情计算中的重要作用和意义,把人类识别和表达情感的能力赋予计算机,开发了具有部分感情能力的计算机。新一代感情计算机的研发和应用依赖于人工智能专家与心理学家之间的密切合作,两者的研究成果可以相互借鉴和互补     

Assessing Workplace Emotional Intelligence: Development and Validation of an Ability-based Measure

Existing measures of Emotional Intelligence (EI), defined as the ability to perceive, understand, and manage emotions for productive purposes, have displayed limitations in predicting workplace outcomes, likely in part because they do not target this context. Such considerations led to the development of an ability EI measure with work-related scenarios in which respondents infer the likely emotions (perception) and combinations of emotion (understanding) that would occur to protagonists while rating the effectiveness of ways of responding (management). Study 1 (n = 290 undergraduates) used item-total correlations to select scenarios from a larger pool and Study 2 (n = 578) reduced the measure—termed the NEAT—to 30 scenarios on the basis of structural equation modeling. Study 3 (n = 96) then showed that the NEAT had expected correlations with personality and cognitive ability and Study 4 (n = 85) demonstrated convergent validity with other ability EI measures. Last, study 5 (n = 91) established that the NEAT had predictive validity with respect to job satisfaction, job stress, and job performance. The findings affirm the importance of EI in the workplace in the context of a valid new instrument for assessing relevant skills.     

Emotional Intelligence and Creativity: The Mediating Role of Generosity and Vigor

This study examines whether and why emotional intelligence may result in enhanced creativity in the workplace. Using a time‐lagged data set collected from employees in three firms, we examined a mediation model where emotional intelligence is indirectly related to creativity serially, through generosity and vigor. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicate a sequential mediation model where emotionally intelligent employees display a high level of generosity; these acts of generosity nurture a sense of vigor, which in turn fosters creative behaviors. We discuss the implications for research on emotional intelligence, generosity, vigor, and creativity.     

Understanding Party Identification: A Social Identity Approach

Social identity theory holds that individuals derive their self-concept from knowledge of their membership in a group (or groups) and that they place value and emotional significance on that group membership, with resulting perceptual and attitudinal biases. Individuals favor the in-group to which they belong which they define against a relevant out-group. In this study, a partisan social identity scale was used to reinterpret perceptual features of partisanship through the lens of social identity theory. The social identity of political independents was also examined in an effort to explain the anomalous behavior and identity of partisan leaners. Social identity theory provided a viable alternative framework for understanding the common bipolarity of perceptions regarding the two major U.S. political parties. In addition, an independent social identification may, in part, explain the identity of partisan leaners.     

The Role of Trait Emotional Intelligence in Academic Performance: Theoretical Overview and Empirical Update

Considerable debate still exists among scholars over the role of trait emotional intelligence (TEI) in academic performance. The dominant theoretical position is that TEI should be orthogonal or only weakly related to achievement; yet, there are strong theoretical reasons to believe that TEI plays a key role in performance. The purpose of the current article is to provide (a) an overview of the possible theoretical mechanisms linking TEI with achievement and (b) an update on empirical research examining this relationship. To elucidate these theoretical mechanisms, the overview draws on multiple theories of emotion and regulation, including TEI theory, social-functional accounts of emotion, and expectancy-value and psychobiological model of emotion and regulation. Although these theoretical accounts variously emphasize different variables as focal constructs, when taken together, they provide a comprehensive picture of the possible mechanisms linking TEI with achievement. In this regard, the article redresses the problem of vaguely specified theoretical links currently hampering progress in the field. The article closes with a consideration of directions for future research.     

Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Party Identification, and Attitudes Toward Feminism in Student Evaluations of the Clinton-Lewinsky Story

This study explored the relationship among undergraduates' right-wing authoritarianism (as measured by the RWA scale), attitudes toward feminism, party identification, gender, and attitudes about the Clinton-Lewinsky relationship. Factor analysis yielded three subscales, reflecting participants' evaluations of Clinton's morality, the affair, and Kenneth Starr (the independent counsel). Republican identification was related to each subscale and also mediated the relationship between RWA and two subscales, which illustrates how party identification channels the expression of personality variables in partisan contexts. In addition, RWA—especially those items tapping aggression—was directly related to negative evaluations of Clinton, which suggests a punitiveness going beyond the mere channeling of opinions by party identification. Attitudes toward feminism were unrelated to the subscales, possibly because feminism supporters viewed Clinton's policies positively but his behavior negatively. However, females did give significantly lower evaluations of Clinton and the affair.     

Feelings in Moral Conflict and the Hazards of Emotional Intelligence

From some perspectives, it seems obvious that emotions and feelings must be both reasonable and morally significant: from others, it may seem as obvious that they cannot be. This paper seeks to advance discussion of ethical implications of the currently contested issue of the relationship of reason to feeling and emotion via reflection upon various examples of affectively charged moral dilemma. This discussion also proceeds by way of critical consideration of recent empirical enquiry into these issues in the literature of so-called emotional intelligence. In this regard, despite ambiguities in their accounts of the relationship of reason to emotion, advocates of emotional intelligence generally incline to therapeutic conceptions of emotional health which are not inconsistent with currently fashionable cognitivist accounts of feeling and emotion. All the same, it is arguable that therapeutic or other strategies which overplay the possibility of cognitive or other resolution of emotional conflict are prey to certain difficulties. First, they underemphasise those passive but identity-constitutive aspects of affect which are not obviously rationally accountable. Secondly, they insufficiently recognise the extent to which emotional conflicts can be significantly implicated in moral diversity. In view of either or both of these points, they may fail to appreciate the moral inappropriateness of attempts to resolve certain forms of emotional conflict or tension.     

Authenticity: a mediator in the relationship between attachment style and affective functioning

Attachment has been show to exhibit a strong effect on emotional well-being throughout an individual’s lifetime. This study examined individuals’ authenticity as a potential mediating variable in the relationship between insecure attachment and affective functioning. Authenticity was examined from multiple perspectives to better define its role as a mediating variable. Results showed that avoidant attachment is a predictor of affective functioning, and that authenticity acts as a mediating variable in this relationship. Anxious attachment showed no direct relationship with affective functioning, yet evidence was found for an indirect pathway from anxious attachment through authenticity on affective functioning. The differing results by attachment style support Mikulincer, Shaver, and Pereg’s theory suggesting a two-part model of emotional response style, wherein individuals with avoidant attachment deactivate emotion and individuals with anxious attachment show hyper-activation when coping with emotion. The study examines the construct of authenticity and its importance in affective functioning. Implications for therapists working with clients are made that highlight the importance of authentic relationships in therapy and life.     

Anxiety and Depression in Children: A Preliminary Examination of the Utility of the PANAS-C

Recent research has questioned the validity of identifying depression and anxiety as separate constructs in children. The current investigation examined the usefulness of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C) in differentiating between anxiety and depression in children while also providing needed reliability and validity data on the PANAS-C. In addition, the relationship between positive and negative affect and coping was examined. Subjects included 110 third through fifth graders from a semirural public school setting. Children completed the PANAS-C, as well as self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and coping strategies. Moderate item–total correlations and high internal consistency indicated that the PANAS-C has good reliability. Validity results were mixed: a two-factor solution resembled previous studies, and negative affect was associated with avoidance coping strategies whereas positive affect was associated with approach coping strategies, as expected. However, correlations of positive and negative affect, anxiety, and depression scales suggest that positive and negative affectivity are negatively related in children as opposed to separate and independent constructs. Results of the present investigation question the validity of the use of the PANAS-C for differentiating anxiety and depression with this age group and lend support to the possibility that high overlap between anxiety and depression in this age group may be specific for childhood depression.     

Emotional Intelligence of Foreign and Local University Students in Singapore: Implications for Managers

Does intelligence alone explain our achievement at work or in life? Contrary to our belief that academic achievement matters very much in the success we have in working life, Chen et al. (1998) has shown that close to 90% of success in leadership positions is attributable to Emotional Intelligence (EI). Considering that EI can be a potential determinant of our achievement in working life, this study aims to determine if there is any significant difference in the EI of local and foreign undergraduates studying in universities in Singapore. The “Emotional IQ Test” was administered to 100 undergraduates from various fields of studies from the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, of which 31 had foreign education background. This study showed that foreign undergraduates have a higher EI score than those with local education background. In addition, by examining the relationships between variables such as age, gender, year of study and EI, it was found that males have higher EI scores than that of females. The implication for managers is that staff should be evaluated on their own merits such as their EI rather than on academic results.     

Emotional approach and problem-focused coping: A comparison of potentially adaptive strategies

This study examined for whom and under what circumstances emotional-approach coping and problem-focused coping are differentially more effective. Eighty-nine participants identified a current stressful situation and then were randomly assigned to either: (a) write for 15 minutes about their feelings (emotional-approach coping); or (b) write about how to solve their problem (problem-focused coping). Participants also completed a self-report measure that assessed how they coped during the two weeks after the exercise. Coping effectiveness was assessed by measuring positive affect, negative affect, and physical symptoms. Dimensions of emotional processing (e.g., clarity and attention to emotions) were assessed using self-report. Gender, type of stressful event (interpersonal vs. achievement), and individual differences in emotional processing moderated the effect of type of coping on positive affect.