Emotions drive the behaviour of crowds in politics and arts

When negative emotions dominate the political debate, anger or contempt can become the dominant mode of action.

Brain research shows that emotions work together with cognition – including perception, reasoning and decision-making. The neural networks of emotion and cognition are constantly interacting.

Cognitive activities in which emotions are strongly involved are called hot cognition. In politics, these themes include dividing ”us” from ”them” on the basis of race, religion, political party or international alliance. The themes of hot cognition play a central role in both national and international politics.

Emotional rhetoric was used, for example, in the US presidential election in November. Ordinary citizens were not expected to understand the structures of political decision-making and the candidates’ plans to influence through them. So the candidates appealed to people’s emotions.

Emotions influence our reasoning and political action

Opinions based on emotions have specific neural underpinnings, and emotions influence our logical thinking early in our thought processes. For example, a study conducted ahead of the UK’s Brexit vote found that the participants’ brain responses predicted their voting behaviour when answering questions about the European Union. Brain responses predicted voting behaviour even when respondents had not made up their minds. However, we are not necessarily aware that an emotion – or emotions in general – drives our actions.

Affective intelligence theory, based on brain research, has attracted increasing interest in political science. According to the theory, alongside enthusiasm, anger and fear are central emotions in explaining our political action or inaction. Recently disgust and contempt have also been more widely discussed as emotions driving political action, such as voting behaviour.

In the US presidential election, Donald Trump used strong language to berate and disparage both his opponent Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party and other groups. Harris also used harsh language about Trump at times. Both in the US and in Europe, nationalist and anti-immigrant views are gaining ground.

Several brain imaging studies show that strong emotional reactions such as fear, anger or anxiety impair our cognitive functions, including our ability to reason logically. The complexity of immigration issues and the need to think carefully about different options can be overwhelmed by strong emotional reactions and the short-sighted, simplistic and extreme solutions they produce.

Increasing emotional awareness through art

Emotional experiences can generally be classified as either pleasant or unpleasant. Most of the central emotions in political discourse – fear, anger, disgust and contempt – are considered unpleasant. When such negative emotions dominate the conversation, angry or contemptuous encounters with other people may become the norm in society. Further, negative emotions related to politics are shown to impair both our physical and mental well-being.

In recent years, concerns about the economy and security have become an increasingly significant part of people’s lives in the western countries. Being aware of and understanding emotions – both our own and those of others – is important to foster pleasant emotions in a daily life tinged with fear and anger.

Experiencing and creating art generates many emotions, such as joy, sadness, tenderness, awe and belonging. In most cases, emotions aroused by art are considered pleasant. On the other hand, expressing sadness, which is often classified as an unpleasant emotion, through musical improvisation has been shown to activate the reward system in the brain. This may be related to the relief of being able to express one’s emotional state nonverbally through art.

Broadening our perspective to create a healthier society

Along with pleasant emotional reactions, art experiences often make us aware of our feelings, and they become more tangible to us. In art education, emotional awareness through different art forms, such as visual arts, dance, music or theatre, is one of the central goals. Brain research has also shown that art experiences activate the neural networks of empathy and prosocial behaviour, the desire to do good for others.

Experiencing pleasant emotions contributes to mental well-being at both the individual and community level. Even momentarily experienced and shared pleasant emotions help us cope with tough life situations and broaden our perspectives to find new solutions. With a broader perspective, we can also influence which emotions we choose to build our society on.

A shorter version of this article was originally published in Finnish as an op-ed in Helsingin Sanomat on January 2nd 2025: https://www.hs.fi/mielipide/art-2000010912700.html