The emotional economy of the European financial crisis in the UK press

This article examines the individual, collective, and social emotions embedded in media discussions of the financial crisis. Emotional experiences toward crises and the political institutions associated with them serve as valuable tools for understanding how citizens think and feel in the public sphere. We highlight over-time links between individual, collective, and social emotionality as we analyze the content of UK media representations of the European financial crisis from 2009 to 2012. We code editorials from journalists and commentaries from experts, public figures, and opinion leaders published in four UK newspapers and identify the valence and affective tone of individual, collective, and social expressions of anger, fear, disappointment, hope, pride, and compassion. We also examine how these interlinked levels of emotional talk underpin blame attributions. This article advances the systematic understanding of the impact of the financial crisis on public opinion and considers its contribution toward European integration attitudes as Brexit was introduced in public debates during this time.</p

The Map to the Heart:an analysis of political affectivity in Turkey

This study examines the complexity of citizens’ political affectivity in Turkey. Drawing from componential models of affect, we rely on situational (motive consistent versus inconsistent) and motivational state (gain or loss) appraisals to test hypotheses on systematic differences in the clusters of political affect that span beyond the traditionally measured discrete emotional reactions of anger, hope, pride and fear. Using qualitative interview data from 2012, we develop a topography of affect clusters and systems of associations between political concepts. We find citizens express their emotionality in rich terms. They are linked to appraisals of multiple political objects, they reflect aversive, anxious, loss and gain oriented emotional responses, and they are guided by citizens’ ideological orientations. This study is valuable as it addresses a significant gap in the study of political affect going beyond their discrete categorizations. It introduces a mapping methodology as an effective way of capturing the complexity of affect systems, and it reveals powerful insights into the depth and richness of emotions based on appraisal dimensions, enriching our understanding of political tensions and developments in Turkish politics and beyond

The Anti-Social Triad of Grievance Politics:An Integrated Model of Reactionism, Ressentiment, and Collective Narcissism

In this article, we undertake a comprehensive examination of reactionism, ressentiment, and collective narcissism, collectively termed as the “ anti-social triad of grievance politics.” Although these constructs are conceptually distinct, they are psycholoically intricately linked. Reactionism denotes a backward-facing political orientation, ressentiment signifies a chronic and embittered emotional mechanism, and collective narcissism reflects a precarious and wounded psychological state. Together, they constitute a potent blend of anti-social sentiments within grievance politics, yet their interconnectedness is overlooked when they are studied in isolation. Our study pioneers in establishing original connections between reactionism, ressentiment, and collective narcissism, providing empirical evidence of their coexistence and interactions. We introduce a novel scale to measure reactionism and explore its associations with existing measures of ressentiment and collective narcissism, as well as their associations with values, authoritarianism, and populism. By elucidating the tight interplay among these phenomena, we offer valuable insights into their implications for responses to social change and the essence of democracy

News Media and the Emotional Public Sphere: The Emotional Economy of the European Financial Crisis in the UK Press

This article examines the individual, collective and social emotions embedded in media discussions of the financial crisis. Emotional experiences towards crises and the political institutions associated with them serve as valuable tools in understanding how citizens think and feel in the public sphere. We highlight over-time links between individual, collective and social emotionality as we analyze the content of UK media representations of the European financial crisis, from 2009 to 2012. We code editorials from journalists, and commentaries from experts, public figures and opinion leaders published in four UK newspapers, and identify the valence and affective tone of individual, collective and social expressions of anger, fear, disappointment, hope, pride, and compassion. We also examine how these interlinked levels of emotional talk underpin the public’s blame attributions. This article contributes to the systematic understanding of the impact of the financial crisis on public opinion, and considers its contribution towards European integration attitudes in the period marked by the introduction of Brexit as term in the public sphere

Iron fists and velvet gloves:Investigating the associations between the stringency of governments’ responses to COVID-19, stress, and compliance in the early stages of the pandemic

To tackle the spread of COVID‐19, governments worldwide have implemented restrictive public health behavioural measures. Whether and when these measures lead to positive or negative psychological outcomes is still debated. In this study, drawing on a large sample of individuals (N (total) = 89,798) from 45 nations, we investigated whether the stringency of public health measures implemented at the outset of the COVID‐19 pandemic in March–May 2020 was associated with individuals’ levels of stress and compliance. Moreover, we addressed the question of how these associations may be moderated by the measures’ implementation lag, nations’ tolerance for unequal distributions of power (i.e., power distance), and individuals’ institutional trust. Linear mixed models suggested that slower implementation of less stringent measures was associated with higher stress and lower compliance. Also, rapid implementation of stricter measures was associated with a mild increase in stress. Such effects were especially pronounced in countries with less tolerance for inequality. Albeit significant, the moderating effect of institutional trust was very small. The results suggest that it may be important to consider the measures’ implementation lag when tackling the spread of COVID‐19, but findings should be interpreted in relation to the data collection period

Stress and worry in the 2020 coronavirus pandemic: Relationships to trust and compliance with preventive measures across 48 countries in the COVIDiSTRESS global survey

The COVIDiSTRESS global survey collects data on early human responses to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic from 173,429 respondents in 48 countries. The open science study was co-designed by an international consortium of researchers to investigate how psychological responses differ across countries and cultures, and how this has impacted behaviour, coping and trust in government efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Starting in March 2020, COVIDiSTRESS leveraged the convenience of unpaid online recruitment to generate public data. The objective of the present analysis is to understand relationships between psychological responses in the early months of global coronavirus resreictions, and help understand how different government measures succeed or fail in changing public behaviour. There were variations between and within countries. Although Western Europeans registered as more concerned over COVID-19, more stressed, and having slightly more trust in the governments’ efforts, there was no clear geographical pattern in compliance with behavioural measures. Detailed plots illustrating between-countries differences are provided.Using both traditional and Bayesian analyses, we found that individuals who worried about getting sick worked harder to protect themselves and others. However, concern about the coronavirus itself did not account for all of the variance in experienced stress during the early months of coronavirus restrictions. More alarmingly, such stress was associated with less compliance. Further, those most concerned over the coronavirus trusted in government measures primarily where policies were strict. While concern over a disease is a source of mental distress, other factors including strictness of protective measures, social support, and personal lockdown conditions must also be taken into consideration to fully appreciate the psychological impact of COVID-19 and to understand why some people fail to follow behavioral guidelines intended to protect themselves and others from infection

The effects of secondary stressors, social identity, and social support on perceived stress and resilience: Findings from the COVID-19 pandemic

Primary stressors are direct outcomes of extreme events (e.g., viruses, floodwater) whereas secondary stressors stem from pre-disaster life circumstances and societal arrangements (e.g., illness, problematic pre-disaster policies) or from inefficient responses to the extreme event. Secondary stressors can cause significant long-term damage to people affected but are also tractable and amenable to change. In this study we explored the association between secondary stressors, social identity processes, social support, and perceived stress and resilience. Pre-registered analyses of data from the COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey Round II (N = 14,600; 43 countries) show that secondary stressors are positively associated with perceived stress and negatively associated with resilience, even when controlling for the effects of primary stressors. Being a woman or having lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with higher exposure to secondary stressors, higher perceived stress, and lower resilience. Importantly, social identification is positively associated with expected support and with increased resilience and lower perceived stress. However, neither gender, SES, or social identification moderated the relationship between secondary stressors and perceived stress and resilience. In conclusion, systemic reforms and the availability of social support are paramount to reducing the effects of secondary stressors

Predictors of Compliance with COVID-19 Guidelines Across Countries: The role of social norms, moral values, trust, stress, and demographic factors

Despite the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it provided the opportunity to investigate factors associated with compliance with public health measures that could inform responses to future pandemics. We analysed cross-country data (k = 121, N = 15,740) collected one year into the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate factors related to compliance with COVID-19 guidelines. These factors include social norms, moral values, trust, stress, and demographic factors. We found that social norms to follow preventive measures were positively correlated with compliance with local prevention guidelines. Compliance was also predicted by concern about the moral value of harm and care, trust in government and the scientific community, stress, and demographic factors. Finally, we discuss country-level differences in the associations between predictors and compliance. Overall, results indicate that the harm/care dimension of moral foundations and trust are critical to the development of programs and policies aimed at increasing compliance with measures to reduce the spread of disease