Pride, Anger, and Cross-cutting Talk: A Three-Country Study of Emotions and Disagreement in Informal Political Discussions

Most work deals with the effects, not antecedents, of people’s exposure to disagreement within their social networks. Here, we elaborate on the role played by a major psychological driver of public opinion: emotions. Drawing from cognitive and appraisal theories, we explore the association between pride, anger, and disagreeable political talk. Three studies—based on cross-sectional and panel surveys conducted in electoral and nonelectoral settings in Chile, the United States, and Switzerland—confirm that there is a significant relationship between feelings of pride toward political objects and discussing with people with ideas different from one’s own. Anger, in contrast, is not a significant predictor of cross-cutting talk. We elaborate on these findings and propose directions for future research.