New pre-print! Beyond Valence: Arousal as a Core Dimension of Affective Polarization

New HPL pre-print with Jakob Kasper, Bert Bakker, Yphtach Lelkes and Gijs Schumacher: https://lnkd.in/er2CPZDu

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬?

Brief summary:
𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 is 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭, yet, existing theories and measures focus 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. But affect is 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥: 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥 is a second core dimension besides valence. We introduce a two-dimensional theoretical framework and measurement approach 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥. Across three countries, we show that neglecting arousal means existing work does 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 and can 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬.

𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:
1. Feeling thermometers 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.
2. 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 people experience toward political actors.
3. 𝐀𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫) 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 with correlates such as political participation, news consumption, and democratic attitudes.

We also propose a 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐝𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥-𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 that remains close to existing operationalizations while better incorporating arousal, and show that our framework 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 provided by studying 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧s while being 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬.

Overall, we 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 of affective polarization research in line with leading theories of affect and improve the 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐲 of related measures.

This work was conducted at the Hot Politics Lab and the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) and funded by the IP-PAD Doctoral Network.