The Affective Resonance of Norm Violation Rhetoric

• In Event: Emotion in Political Communication

Abstract

As politicians and political activists appear to be pushing aversive politics to new levels, we hypothesize that a tactical rhetorical style that characterizes political opponents as violating accepted procedural political norms may stimulate a unique emotional response among some listeners. We presented a national sample of American adults with either a supportive or critical view of three prominent political issues. In one condition a norm-violation vocabulary was emphasized; in a second otherwise comparable condition the same opposing opinions were characterized as honest differences among reasonable citizens. Drawing on affective intelligence theory we found that the norm violation rhetoric raised levels of anxiety and aversion lowered levels of enthusiasm and had mixed effects on the likelihood of information seeking and deliberation concerning issue alternatives.

Authors

• W Russell Neuman, NYU

• George Marcus, Williams

• Michael MacKuen, U of North Carolina