Uncertainty Intolerance, Anxiety, emotion regulation and Populist Attitudes Among British Voters in the 2024 UK Election

Xinran Pei

doi:10.54097/nq7z8509

Authors

Xinran Pei

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/nq7z8509

Keywords:

Populist Attitudes, Uncertainty Intolerance, Anxiety, Emotion Regulation, SPSS

Abstract

This paper is set in the context of the UK general election held on 4 July 2024[1]. By conducting stepwise regression and mediation analyses using SPSS 27.0 and PROCESS 4.3 on 450 samples of British adult eligible voters on Qualtrics, it explores the relationships and pathways between intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety, emotion regulation, and populist attitudes. The research aims to reveal the psychological mechanisms underlying populist attitudes among British voters.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nglegege1o.amp [Accessed 11 Aug. 2024].

[2] Ewe, K. (2023). Elections Around the World in 2024. [online] TIME. Available at: https:// time. com/ 6550920/ world-elections-2024/.

[3] Pope, C. (2024). General Election 2024: How Labour will change Britain – and everything else you need to know about this election. [online] The Labour Party. Available at: https://labour.org.uk/ updates/ stories/ general-election-2024/ [Accessed 27 May 2024].

[4] Aisen, A. and Veiga, F.J. (2013). How does political instability affect economic growth? European Journal of Political Economy, [online] 29(1), pp.151–167. doi: https: //doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2012.11.001.

[5] Canovan, M. (1999). Trust the People! Populism and the Two Faces of Democracy. Political Studies, 47 (1), pp.2–16.

[6] Knight, A. (1998). Populism and Neo-populism in Latin America, especially Mexico. Journal of Latin American Studies, 30(2), pp.223-248. doi: https: //doi.org/10.1017/s0022216x98005033.

[7] Mudde, C. (2004). The Populist Zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39(4), pp.541–563.

[8] Frijda, N.H., Kuipers, P. and Schure, E. ter (1989). Relations among emotion, appraisal, and emotional action readiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(2), pp.212–228. doi: https:// doi. org/ 10. 1037//0022-3514.57.2.212.

[9] Davidson, R.J. (2000). Dysfunction in the Neural Circuitry of Emotion Regulation--A Possible Prelude to Violence. Science, [online] 289(5479), pp.591–594. doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.289.5479.591.

[10] Brader, T. and Marcus, G.E. (2013). Emotion and Political Psychology. Oxford Handbooks Online. Oxford University Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199760107.013.0006.

[11] Capelos, T. (2013). Understanding Anxiety and Aversion: The Origins and Consequences of Affectivity in Political Campaigns. In: Emotions in Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. doi: https:// doi.org/ 10. 1057/978 1137025661.0007.

[12] Breeze, R. (2018). Emotion in politics: Affective-discursive practices in UKIP and Labour. Discourse & Society, 30(1), pp.24–43. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926518801074.

[13] Krasteva, A. (2016). The Post-Communist Rise of National Populism: Bulgarian Paradoxes. In: G. Lazaridis, G. Campani and A. Benveniste, eds., The Rise of the Far Right in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, pp.161–200. doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55679-0_7.

[14] March, L. (2017). Left and right populism compared: The British case. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 19(2), pp.282–303.

[15] Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories: studies in social psychology. Cambridge Etc.: Cambridge University Press.

[16] Mudde, C. and Kaltwasser, C.R. (2017). Populism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[17] Runciman, W.G. (1966). Relative Deprivation and Social Justice. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press.

[18] Hofstede, G. (2001). Cultures and Organizations: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

[19] Mudde, C. (2007). Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe. Cambridge University Press. doi: https:// doi. org/ 10.1017/cbo9780511492037.

[20] Gross, J.J. (2015). Handbook of Emotion Regulation, First Edition. Guilford Press.

[21] Haidt, J. (2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108(4), pp.814–834.

[22] Carleton, R.N. (2016). Fear of the unknown: One Fear to Rule Them all? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, [online] 41(41), pp.5–21. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.03.011.

[23] Bar-Anan, Y., Wilson, T.D. and Gilbert, D.T. (2009). The feeling of uncertainty intensifies 2.2.2

[24] Carleton, R.N., Norton, M.A.P.J. and Asmundson, G.J.G. (2007). Fearing the unknown: A short version of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 21(1), pp.105–117. doi: https:// doi. org/ 10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.03.014.

[25] Schulz, A. (2018). Where populist citizens get the news: An investigation of news audience polarization along populist attitudes in 11 countries. Communication Monographs, 86(1), pp.88–111. doi: https:// doi. org/ 10.1080/03637751.2018.1508876.

[26] Margarita M, O.A. (2023). The Role of Identity and Emotions as Predictors of Populism. Doctoral Dissertation.

[27] Hayes, A.F. (2017). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: a regression-based Approach. New York: The Guilford Press.