Emotion, Attribution, and Attitudes toward Crime

In this paper we explore the effects of emotion on attributions for criminal behavior and attitudes toward the criminal justice system. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theories of emotion, we consider whether discrete forms of emotional experience (such as anger, sadness, and fear) exert unique effects on political thinking, rather than making a gross distinction between positive and negative emotions. We uncover important differentiation in the effects of negative emotions on attributions for criminal behavior and attitudes toward crime. Specifically, we find anger is associated with individual rather than social attributions for criminal behavior, preferences for punitive versus rehabilitative policy, and reduced confidence in the criminal justice system. The effects of fear and sadness run counter to the effects of anger. We attribute these differences to the distinct patterns of cognitive appraisals––such as agency, certainty, and individual versus situational control––appraisals that both give rise to and result from these discrete emotional states. Ultimately, our results point to a strong link between emotion and political cognition and highlight the importance of attending to specific emotional states rather than classifying emotional experience based on valence.