Pictures that Polarize: News Images Affect Appraisals of Political Outgroups by Arousing Negative Emotions

This study investigates how people’s emotional responses to politically divisive news images can impact attitudes and behavioral intentions toward political outgroup members. In an online experiment (N = 368), participants viewed one of two news images related to rallies involving the U.S. gun policy issue, either showing political ingroup or outgroup rallygoers. Exposure to news images of political outgroup rallygoers heightened threat-related negative emotions in participants, resulting in reduced empathy (and increased anxiety) toward political outgroup members. These negative emotions also led to more negative opinions of political outgroup members and a greater likelihood of participants reporting an intention to act antagonistically toward them.