Shame on Us, Angry at You

Shame on Us, Angry at You: Framing of Brexit as an Ingroup vs. Outgroup Issue Influences Group-based Emotions and Collective Action Tendencies - Daniel Noon (University of Sussex), P. Sophie Russell (University of Surrey), Roger Giner-Sorolla (University of Kent)

Distinct collective behaviours are motivated by discrete emotions (Mackie et al., 2000; Tausch et al., 2011). For example, in some contexts, a negative group action can be interpreted either as “our group” having done wrong (intragroup disapproval, leading to guilt and shame) or “those people from our group” having done wrong (intergroup disapproval, leading to higher anger and disgust) Two studies examined the impact of the 2016 British European Union referendum on outgroup-hostile emotions; anger and disgust. Remain supporters were asked to report their emotions towards leave voters (i.e., an intergroup context) and towards British people (i.e., an intragroup context). Study 1 found that for the intergroup context, participants reported more intense anger and disgust, but not guilt and shame, compared to the intragroup context. Additionally, the intergroup context significantly increased the relationship of ingroup identification to group-based anger and disgust. However, context did not significantly change the relationship between identification and both group-based guilt and shame. Study 2 replicated these findings and extended them by revealing that intergroup anger related to the appraisal of a group action as bad and predicts willingness to engage in normative forms of collective protest (e.g., peaceful demonstrations). Meanwhile, intergroup disgust related to the appraisal of group character as flawed and predicts willingness to engage in non-normative forms of political behaviours (e.g., violent attacks). Identifying negative subgroups within one’s own group can thus be an effective way to increase collective action but does not seem to reduce the burden of collective guilt and shame.