Touching the base: heart-warming ads from the 2016 U.S. election moved viewers to partisan tears

Some political ads used in the 2016 U.S. election evoked feelings colloquially known as being moved to tears. We conceptualise this phenomenon as a positive social emotion that appraises and motivates communal relations, is accompanied by physical sensations (including lachrymation, piloerection, ch...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognition and emotion 2019-02, Vol.33 (2), p.197-212
Main Authors: Seibt, Beate, Schubert, Thomas W., Zickfeld, Janis H., Fiske, Alan P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
2016 presidential election
Adolescent
Adult
Advertising - methods
Aged
being moved
Candidates
Concept Formation
crying
Elections
Emotions - physiology
Female
Humans
Intention
kama muta
Male
Middle Aged
Motivation
Motivation - physiology
Persuasive Communication
Political ads
Political advertising
Politics
Surveys and Questionnaires
Tears
Touch
United States
Viewers
Voters
voting
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Some political ads used in the 2016 U.S. election evoked feelings colloquially known as being moved to tears. We conceptualise this phenomenon as a positive social emotion that appraises and motivates communal relations, is accompanied by physical sensations (including lachrymation, piloerection, chest warmth), and often labelled metaphorically. We surveyed U.S. voters in the fortnight before the 2016 U.S. election. Selected ads evoked the emotion completely and reliably, but in a partisan fashion: Clinton voters were moved to tears by three selected Clinton ads, and Trump voters were moved to tears by two Trump ads. Viewers were much less moved by ads of the candidate they did not support. Being moved to tears predicted intention to vote for the candidate depicted. We conclude that some contemporary political advertising is able to move its audience to tears, and thereby motivates support.
ISSN:0269-9931
1464-0600
DOI:10.1080/02699931.2018.1441128