Abstract

In a sample composed of 176 left-wing students we analyzed experimentally (23 factorial design) emotional reactions to negative campaign messages as a function of political ir/relevance of the content, in/civility of the tone, and source's political affiliation). We found a tri-dimensional structure of emotional responses (enthusiasm, anxiety, and aversion). Messages stemming from an ingroup source elicited enthusiasm when relevant and aversion when irrelevant, while messages stemming from an outgroup source elicited anxiety.