OnderbuikNL

What emotional responses do we have to politics? And how do these responses influence our attitudes?

In the summer of 2016, during Lowlands (music and performing arts festival), we conducted an experiment during which we measured physiological responses to politics. We presented participants with short videos expressing left-wing and right-wing viewpoints on topics like immigration, inequality, and climate. Throughout the experiment, we tracked heartbeat, skin conductance, and facial electromyography. Following this, we expanded the experiment and visited events such as TT Assen (a biker event), EO Jongerendag (an Evangelical rock festival), and the Media Museum.

We found that participants were more likely to show negative affect (as measured by activation of the corrugator facial muscle) in response to videos they disagreed with. We also found that such physiological responses during the video predicted attitude change after the experiment.