What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to assess whether appraisal theory accurately predicts emotions in political contexts compared to general contexts.

June 8, 2026Political PsychologyOpen Access

The limits of appraisals theory for political emotions: Evidence from two U.S. surveys

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

Randomized trial tests distinct appraisal patterns of emotions in political contexts, suggesting theoretical adjustments are needed.

The aim is to assess whether appraisal theory accurately predicts emotions in political contexts compared to general contexts.
Conducted two U.S. surveys focused on recalling emotional experiences related to political and general events.
Participants labeled their emotions and rated events along 18 different appraisal dimensions.
Trained predictive models to analyze emotion families based on reported appraisals.
In the general domain, discrete emotions showed distinct appraisal profiles, accurately predicted by the models.
In the political domain, negative emotions displayed overlapping appraisal profiles, leading to poorer predictive performance.
Findings challenge the assumption that emotions function similarly in general versus political contexts.

Rebasso et al. (2026) studied this question.

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark