This study examines power threat induced by work group members and disrespect conveyed by work group members as predictors of destructive leadership behaviours of group leaders, mediated by anger...Show moreThis study examines power threat induced by work group members and disrespect conveyed by work group members as predictors of destructive leadership behaviours of group leaders, mediated by anger and acceptance anxiety. The moderating roles of the personality traits Machiavellianism and agreeableness are also addressed. A 2x2 full factorial design was used (power threat: high vs. low, disrespect: high vs. low). 134 students from Leiden University were randomly assigned to the conditions as research participants. ANOVAs showed that disrespect from subordinates instils anger and acceptance anxiety in work group leaders. Power threat also instils anger and acceptance anxiety in work group leaders. Mediation analysis showed that disrespect, through anger, leads to destructive leadership. Mediation analysis also showed that disrespect and power threat, through acceptance anxiety, do not lead to more constructive leadership. Moderation analysis showed that Machiavellianism moderates the effects of disrespect on acceptance anxiety. The implications of this study, as well as limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.Show less
Previous research has shown that people are motivated to up-regulate certain emotions if they believe that it reinforces their ideological convictions. More specifically, Pliskin and colleagues...Show morePrevious research has shown that people are motivated to up-regulate certain emotions if they believe that it reinforces their ideological convictions. More specifically, Pliskin and colleagues reported that leftists were more likely to experience hope, and rightists were more likely to experience fear if they believed that the respective emotions reinforce their ideology in regard to the acceptance or rejection of social change. The present research expands on these findings by investigating whether people would be motivated to up-regulate their level of anger if they believe it reinforces their ideology, and whether such motivational effort differs between ideological groups (left vs right). To this end, we sampled 206 British participants (114 female, 90 male, 2 other, Mage = 33.18, SD = 11.96) of which 115 (40 male, 73 female, 2 self-identified; Mage = 29.15, SD = 9.9) reported a leftist ideology and 91 (41 female, Mage = 38.29, SD = 12.43) a rightist ideology. Both groups were presented with one of three bogus scientific articles claiming that anger reinforces a leftist ideology, anger reinforces a rightist ideology or a neutral control article. Subsequently, the participants were asked to rank order eight headlines that hinted at emotion-inducing articles (anger, fear, hope, neutral). The results of the ANCOVA revealed a non-significant interaction effect, disconfirming our formulated hypothesis. Such null findings may support the context-dependence of anger and point at the necessity of adopting a multi-dimensional, context sensitive approach to the study of ideological differences in the motivated regulation of emotions.Show less
Recent research has shown that even in non-political contexts, leftists and rightists are motivated to experience hope and fear respectively, because of their belief that these emotions justify...Show moreRecent research has shown that even in non-political contexts, leftists and rightists are motivated to experience hope and fear respectively, because of their belief that these emotions justify their ideological convictions. This raises the question of whether the desire to reinforce one’s ideology could also influence the motivation to experience other emotions. In order to fill this gap in the research literature, the present study investigates whether believing that anger reinforces rightist (or leftist) ideology, would motivate people holding on to this ideology to feel more anger in response to politically neutral major current events. To test this, we conducted an online study with 235 adult participants from the United Kingdom, presenting them with (fabricated) scientific information stating that anger can promote and justify the principles of rightist (or leftist) ideology. Next, we assessed if this manipulation influenced participants motivation to experience anger, by measuring the order in which participants prioritized reading anger inducing news, as opposed to hope and fear inducing news, during the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our results indicate that manipulating the belief that anger reinforces one’s (or the opposite) ideology did not influence participants’ motivation to experience anger in this context. Also, contrary to the findings of previous research, leftists and rightists did not differ in their motivation to experience hope and fear. This thesis discusses the implications of these findings, and puts them into context with the world pandemic. Moreover, it proposes future directions for the study of ideological motivated emotion regulation.Show less
Addressing a shortcoming in theories on the influence of emotion on political decision-making this thesis aims to explore the distinct effects of anger on voting behavior in the Netherlands. The...Show moreAddressing a shortcoming in theories on the influence of emotion on political decision-making this thesis aims to explore the distinct effects of anger on voting behavior in the Netherlands. The biological origin of emotion and its function in individuals and social interactions, specifically the influence on decision-making processes, are justification for including emotion in a model of vote choice. However, this inclusion should correspond with the biology and theoretical predictions of emotional effects. The most complete and authoritative model which includes emotion is the Theory of Affective Intelligence (AI). Because in the operationalization of anxiety fear and anger are combined, the theory is flawed in this respect. This is an important issue to address since it can have a significant impact on predictions from the model. Predictions that can be used to solve the ongoing debate on the personalization of Dutch politics by pointing to the different circumstances under which voters rely on different decision-making strategies. Using a a online survey to collect data, which included items on candidate traits, policy preferences and ideology, party attachments and background items, the hypotheses for the specific effects of anger were tested in a model based on logistic regression. The survey included a manipulation of the emotional state. Results show some distinct influences of anger and fear. Fear increases the relative weight candidate traits in a vote-choice, whereas anger increases the weight of ideological distance and policy preferences. Furthermore, party-attachments are weak and knowledge seems to have no effect.Show less
The main goal of this article is to find out in what way discrete negative emotions are of influence regarding a person's level of tolerance. To investigate this matter, an experiment among Dutch...Show moreThe main goal of this article is to find out in what way discrete negative emotions are of influence regarding a person's level of tolerance. To investigate this matter, an experiment among Dutch citizens was conducted to discover the impact of fear, anger and hatred on tolerance attitudes. Besides that, a person's perception of threat may be an important factor in explaining already existing emotions like fear. Because previous literature has pointed out that a person's perception of threat and felt emotions towards a certain group are closely connected, the research in this article will combine findings of threat perception and emotional responses in explaining political tolerance attitudes. The research question for this study is therefore: In what way do discrete negative emotions and perceptions of threat regarding a certain out-group effect a person's level of tolerance towards that out-group.Show less
