2019/07/01 by A. Kupatadze, Alexander Kupatadze, T. Zeitzoff +1 · 38 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Aggression #Anger #Foreign policy #Perception #Political Conflict and Governance #Political science #Politics #Psychology #Shadow (psychology) #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Social psychology #Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
paper · doi:10.1017/s0007123418000479
published in British Journal of Political Science 51(1), 181-202 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 2019/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
Abstract We investigate how emotions, threat perceptions and past violence influence foreign policy attitudes via a survey experiment in Georgia. Using a stratified sample across areas with differential exposure to the conflict and the presence of internally displaced persons, we randomly assign respondents to receive emotional primes about Russian aggression in the region. We find that exposure to violence, as well as simply being primed about past Russian aggression, both increase the perceived threat from Russia, and to a lesser extent anger towards Russia. Individuals who receive the primes are more supportive of a hardline foreign policy. In contrast, we find that exposure to violence does not have a direct effect on foreign policy attitudes, but increases hardline attitudes indirectly, through increased anger and threat. Taken together our results provide evidence that reminders of past violence have different effects than direct exposure to violence on foreign policy attitudes.