An Experimental Test of the Effects of Fear in a Coordination Game

Abstract

Cognitive appraisal theory predicts that emotions affect participation decisions around risky collective action. However, little existing research has attempted to parse out the mechanisms by which this process occurs. We build a global game of regime change and discuss the effects that fear may have on participation through pessimism about the state of the world, other players’ willingness to participate, and risk aversion. We test the behavioral effects of fear in this game by conducting 32 sessions of an experiment in two labs where participants are randomly assigned to an emotion induction procedure. In some rounds of the game, potential mechanisms are shut down to identify their contribution to the overall effect of fear. Our results show that in this context, fear does not affect willingness to participate. This finding highlights the importance of context, including integral versus incidental emotions and the size of the stakes, in shaping effect of emotions on behavior.

The Diverse Effects of Government Propaganda in Electoral Authoritarian Regimes: Evidence from Turkey

“…Hence, in future studies, it would be interesting to explore emotional responses by relying on eye-tracking methods (Skaramagkas et al 2023) or other methods to more directly measure arousal (Bakker, Schumacher and Rooduijn 2021). 21 Second, propaganda videos-as our results suggest-generate various emotional responses and it remains difficult to perfectly isolate the effect of one emotion on political outcomes (Aldama et al 2023). This caveat is even more important if there are unmeasured emotions that correlate with the three emotions that we measure, and which drive political behavior.…”

“…Psychologists have studied various correlates of these three emotions and found several systematic patterns. For instance, negative emotions such as anger and anxiety are often correlated (Aldama et al 2023;. A strong sense of group belonging is related to positive emotions such as being valued and recognized (Baumeister and Leary 1995).…”