Seeing Red Through Rose-Colored Glasses: Subjective Hope as a Moderator of the Persuasive Influence of Anger

Research identifies contradictory effects of anger in political communication, engendering heuristic processing of information that exacerbates partisan bias in some situations, but increasing attention and deepening information processing in others. This study addressed these contradictions by positing subjective hope as a moderator of anger's effects on message processing and persuasion. Employing an experimental design (N = 538) in the context of the U.S. immigration debate, the study assessed two long-standing mechanisms associated with the persuasive effects of anger - psychological reactance and message elaboration - with subjective hope as a moderator of those processes. Results confirmed that experienced anger increases reactance and superficial information processing. Critically, however, subjective hope emerged as a key moderator capable of reversing anger's negative effects. These findings offer an important clarification of the boundary conditions governing the effects of anger and highlight the need for further study of interacting emotional processes in political communication.