Strukture emocija prema celnicima politickih stranaka: provjera osnovnih postavki teorije afektivne inteligencije

In: Politicka misao, Band 40, Heft 4, S. 25-42

Abstract

Based on a study conducted with a sample of 253 students of political science & journalism at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb, the author examines whether emotions about leaders of Croatian political parties are structured in line with the postulates of the theory of affective intelligence by Marcus et al (2000) & its three dimensions: enthusiasm, anxiety, & 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 all 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 analyzed, measured by scales of the emotions of respect, admiration, & trust. Results of factor analyses show that emotions about most party leaders are structured in three dimensions; emotions of moral approbation & of enthusiasm make up one dimension of the positive affect toward politicians, in line with the postulate of the primary process of their origin. However, a separate analysis of the respondents with either positive or negative attitudes toward individual leaders shows that for 5 of 15 evaluated leaders, emotions of respondents with negative attitudes 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 & the worthy opponents. 4 Tables, 2 Figures, 2 Graphs, 25 References. Adapted from the source document.