The Role of Intergroup Emotions in Political Violence

Emotions can drive intergroup behavior, including intergroup violence. We propose that anger, contempt, and disgust (ANCODI) work together in combination to motivate action, devaluation of the other group, and then elimination of their members. We tested the ANCODI hypothesis by examining speeches given by leaders of extreme political groups prior to major events or rallies that either turned violent (e.g., Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany) or did not (e.g., Gandhi’s Salt March in India). Three studies assessed these speeches in the year prior to the critical event and coded for verbal and nonverbal emotional and emotional-appraisal content in references to the nemesis group. Amounts of all three of the ANCODI emotions and their precursor appraisals, in text or video, were elevated 3 months prior to violent events, whereas only anger was elevated prior to nonviolent events. These results suggest that leaders using the ANCODI emotions can generate violence against others, and that identifying this combination prior to an event may facilitate interventions to reduce intergroup violence.