The Relative Impact of Anger and Efficacy on Collective Action is Affected by Feelings of Fear

Two well-established predictors of collective action are perceptions of group efficacy and feelings of anger. The current research investigates the extent to which the relative impact of these variables differs when fear is or is not also included as a predictor of collective action. The results of two experiments indicate that when fear is not assessed, the importance of anger as a predictor of action is underestimated while the importance of group efficacy is overestimated. The results further indicate that fear, in addition to affecting the impact of known causes of collective action (anger and group efficacy), is a powerful inhibitor of collective action. The implications for current theoretical models of collective action instigators are discussed.