Political Emotions Felt Differently in the Body Than Everyday Emotions, Study Finds

Political emotions are not merely abstract thoughts but are experienced as specific physical sensations, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This research suggests that the way individuals feel political emotions, such as anger, anxiety, or hope, differs from how they experience everyday emotions, and these bodily feelings may even predict political engagement.

Previous research often measured political emotions by asking people to rate their feelings on numerical scales, treating emotions as separate from the mind. However, this new study posits that physical sensations form the core of emotional experiences. When people feel an emotion, they undergo interoception, the brain's perception of signals from within the body, like a racing heart or a churning stomach.

The research team, led by Andrea Vik, a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for the Politics of Feeling, Royal Holloway and the School of Advanced Study, University of London, employed a digital mapping technique called emBODY. This method allowed them to measure physical reactions by having 992 adult participants from the United States map where they felt specific sensations on a digital human silhouette. Participants used colors to indicate increased activation (red, for warmth or tension) or decreased activation (blue, for numbness or heaviness).

Participants first mapped their daily physical responses to non-political emotions like anger, anxiety, depression, annoyance, and hope. Subsequently, they performed the same mapping exercise for the political versions of these emotions. They were asked to select a contemporary issue that evoked specific emotions and then rank the intensity of their emotional responses. The study's findings indicate that these distinct bodily feelings associated with political emotions can predict participation in actions like voting or demonstrating.