Original scientific paper
STRUCTURES OF EMOTIONS REGARDING POLITICAL PARTY LEADERS: TESTING THE BASICS OF THE THEORY OF AFFECTIVE INTELLIGENCE
Nebojša Blanuša
orcid.org/0000-0002-9430-7446
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Based on the study conducted on the handy sample of 253 students of political science and journalism at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb, the author examines whether the emotions about the leaders of the Croatian political parties are structured in line with the postulates of the theory of affective intelligence by Marcus et al. (2000) and its three dimensions: enthusiasm, anxiety and aversion. The separate structuring of the dimension of repulsion or aversion with most leaders is supposed to be an expression of an enduring disapprobation of the entire Croatian politics. Since, according to this theory, moral disapprobation lies at the very heart of the dimension of aversion, the structuring of the emotional reactions of moral approbation are additionally analysed, measured by the scales of the emotions of respect, admiration and trust. The results of the factor analyses show that the emotions about most party leaders are structured in three dimensions; the emotions of moral approbation and the emotions of enthusiasm make up one dimension of the positive affect towards politicians, in line with the postulate of the primary process of their origin. However, a separate analysis of the respondents with the positive or the negative attitude towards individual leaders shows that for five of 15 evaluated leaders, the emotions of the respondents with the negative attitude are structured in four dimensions. The author is of the opinion that such structuring is the emotional basis for the process of evaluation of two groups of political opponents: the outsiders and the worthy opponents.
Keywords
theory of affective intelligence; emotions; enthusiasm; anxiety; aversion; moral approbation; parliamentary party leaders; outsiders and worthy opponents
Hrčak ID:
22923
URI
Publication date:
16.7.2004.
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