The Role of Self-Threat and Self-Affirmation in Initiation of Political Conversations
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6180168 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lisa P Argyle (0000-0003-3109-2537, Brigham Young University, corresponding author), Melanie Freeze (0000-0003-3193-5178, Film Independent) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 655-670 |
| Publication date | 2024-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Politics Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1532-673X • E-ISSN: 1552-3373 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1532673x241263079 |
| OpenAlex | W4400945327 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 89 |
Both in their quantity and their quality, informal political conversations can provide an important bellwether for democratic health. However, not everyone is willing to participate in political conversations in all settings, and systematic imbalances in who chooses not to share political attitudes can distort perceptions of public opinion. Using data from three original surveys, including both observational and experimental analysis, we examine people’s decisions to initiate political discussions using a psychological framework of self-threat and self-affirmation. We find that political conversations pose a higher level of self-threat when disagreement is probable and the relationship with the potential discussion partner is weaker. High levels of self-threat, measured via self-reported anxiety, are associated with a lower willingness to initiate a political conversation. However, self-threat can be counteracted. While it does not reduce the anxiety associated with a threatening situation, self-affirmation increases people’s willingness to initiate a political conversation in higher threat circumstances. This suggests that efforts to find common ground or boost confidence by reflecting on non-political values could increase the pool of people willing to bring up and share their political views
Anxiety · Conversation · Democracy · Perception · Political communication · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Self-affirmation · Law · Media Influence and Health · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
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Political Disagreement
A two-dimensional neuropsychology of defense
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Threat and Defense
Everyday Talk in the Deliberative System
Experimental manipulations of self-affirmation
Self-Threat Magnifies the Self-Serving Bias
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Talking Together
The Other Divide
Examining Beliefs About the Benefits of Self-Affirmation for Mitigating Self-Threat
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The Psychology of Self‐defense
Talking about Politics
Personality and the Foundations of Political Behavior
Anxious Politics
When Beliefs Yield to Evidence
Resistance and Persuasion
Why Does Writing About Important Values Reduce Defensiveness
Hearing the Other Side
Self-esteem, self-affirmation, and schadenfreude
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See Jane Run
Orientations toward Conflict and the Conditional Effects of Political Disagreement
From the Living Room to the Meeting Hall? Citizens’ Political Talk in the Deliberative System
Does Disagreement Contribute to More Deliberative Opinion
The “Who” Matters
Cross-Cutting Messages and Political Tolerance
When Corrections Fail
Social Networks and the Affective Impact of Political Disagreement
What does “Political” Mean to You
Conflict Avoidance and Gender Gaps in Political Engagement
Disgust, Anxiety, and Political Learning in the Face of Threat
Disagreeing about Disagreement
All in the Family
The Incidental Pundit
The Consequences of Cross-Cutting Networks for Political Participation
Threat, Anxiety, and Support of Antiterrorism Policies
Bridging the partisan divide
The cessation of rumination through self-affirmation
Dissonance processes as self-affirmation
Enraged and Engaged? Emotions as Motives for Discussing Politics
Freedom of Expression in Interpersonal Interactions
The Psychology of Change
Testing multiple means of self-affirmation
Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis
Anxiety, Enthusiasm, and the Vote
Cross-cutting Social Networks
"Selecting Out of "Politics
The Spiral of Silence
Some Explorations in Initial Interaction and Beyond
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |