Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T15:06:33.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Feeling like a state: social emotion and identity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2014

Jonathan Mercer
Jonathan Mercer*
Affiliation:
University of Washington
*
E-mail: mercer@uw.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Can one use emotion at anything other than the individual level of analysis? Emotion happens in biological bodies, not in the space between them, and this implies that group emotion is nothing but a collection of individuals experiencing the same emotion. This article contends that group-level emotion is powerful, pervasive, and irreducible to individuals. People do not merely associate with groups (or states), they can become those groups through shared culture, interaction, contagion, and common group interest. Bodies produce emotion that identities experience: group-level emotion can be stronger than, and different from, emotion experienced as an individual; group members share, validate, and police each others’ feelings; and these feelings structure relations within and between groups in international politics. Emotion goes with identity.

Type
Forum: Emotions and World Politics
Information
International Theory , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , November 2014 , pp. 515 - 535
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrett, Lisa F. 2009. “The Future of Psychology: Connecting Mind to Brain.” Perspectives on Psychological Science 4(4):326–339.Google Scholar
Barrett, Lisa F. 2013. “Psychological Construction: The Darwinian Approach to the Science of Emotion.” Emotion Review 5(4):379–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, Lisa F., Mesquita, Batja, Ochsner, Kevin N., and Gross, James J.. 2007. “The Experience of Emotion.” Annual Review of Psychology 58:373–403.Google Scholar
Bilefsky, Dan. 2012. “Seeking Return of Art, Turkey Jolts Museums.” New York Times, October 1: A1.Google Scholar
Boiger, Michael, and Mesquita, Batja. 2012. “The Construction of Emotion in Interactions, Relationships, and Cultures.” Emotion Review 4(3):221–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bollen, Johan, Gonçalves, Bruno, Ruan, Guangchen, and Mao, Huina. 2011. “Happiness is Assortative in Online Social Networks.” Artificial Life 17(3):237–251.Google Scholar
Chan, Brenda L., Witt, Richard, Charrow, Alexandra P., Howard, Robin, Magee, Amand, Pasquina, Paul F., Heilman, Kenneth M., Malcom, Randall and Tsao, Jack W.. 2007. “Mirror Therapy for Phantom Limb Pain.” New England Journal of Medicine 357(21):2206–2207.Google Scholar
Chia, Joan Y., and Ambady, Nalini. 2007. “Cultural Neuroscience: Parsing Universality and Diversity Across Levels of Analysis.” In Handbook of Cultural Psychology, edited by Shinobu Kitayama and Dov Cohen, 237–254. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cialdini, Robert B., Borden, Richard J., Thorne, Avril, Walker, Marcus R., Freeman, Stephen, and Sloan., Lloyd R. 1976. “Basking in Reflected Glory: Three (Football) Field Studies.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 34(3):366–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, Helene, and Myers, Steven L.. 2012. “While U.N. Beckons Clinton, Obama Takes in ‘The View’.” New York Times, September 24: A4.Google Scholar
Crawford, Neta C. 2000. “The Passion of World Politics: Propositions on Emotions and Emotional Relationships.” International Security 24(4):116–156.Google Scholar
Cropanzano, Russell, Stein, Jordan H., and Nadisic, Thierry. 2011. Social Justice and the Experience of Emotion. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Damasio, Antonio R. 2004. “William James and the Modern Neurobiology of Emotion.” In Emotion, Evolution, and Rationality, edited by Dylan Evans and Pierre Cruse, 3–14. Cambridge: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dao, James, and Kovaleski, Serge F.. 2012. “Music Style is Called Supremacist Recruiting Tool." New York Times, August 8: A10.Google Scholar
De Dreu, Carsten K.W., Greer, Lindred L., Van Kleef, Gerben A., Shalvi, Shaul, and Handgraaf, Michel J.J.. 2011. “Oxytocin Promotes Human Ethnocentrism.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108(4):1262–1266.Google Scholar
Doosje, Bertjan, Branscombe, Nyla R., Spears, Russell, and Manstead, Antony S.R.. 1998. “Guilty by Association: When One's Group has a Negative History.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 75(4):872–886.Google Scholar
Doosje, B., Branscombe, N.R., Spears, R., and Manstead, A.S.R. 2004. “Consequences of National Ingroup Identification for Responses to Immoral Historical Events.” In Collective Guilt: International Perspectives, edited by Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje, 95–111. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dunbar, Robin I.M., Baron, Rebecca, Frangou, Anna, Pearce, Eiluned, van Leeuwen, Edwin J.C., Stow, Julie, Partridge, Giselle, MacDonald, Ian, Barra, Vincent, and van Vugt, Mark. 2012. “Social Laughter is Correlated with an Elevated Pain Threshold.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279(1731):1161–1167.Google Scholar
Ellsworth, Phoebe C. 2014. “Basic Emotions and the Rocks of New Hampshire.” Emotion Review 6(1):21–26.Google Scholar
Eznack, Lucile. 2011. “Crises as Signals of Strength: The Significance of Affect in Close Allies’ Relationships.” Security Studies 20(2):238–265.Google Scholar
Feinberg, Todd E. 2012. “Neuroontology, Neurobiological Naturalism, and Consciousness: A Challenge to Scientific Reduction and a Solution.” Physics of Life Reviews 9(1):13–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fischer, Peter, Haslam, S. Alexander, and Smith, Laura. 2010. “‘If You Wrong Us, Shall We Not Revenge?’ Social Identity Salience Moderates Support for Retaliation in Response to Collective Threat.” Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice 14(2):143–150.Google Scholar
Goodwin, Jeff, Jasper, James M., and Polletta, Francesca. 2001. “Why Emotions Matter.” In Passionate Politics: Emotions and Social Movements, edited by Jeff Goodwin, James M. Jasper, and Francesca Polletta, 1–26. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, Kurt, and Wegner, Daniel M.. 2008. “The Sting of Intentional Pain.” Psychological Science 19(12):1260–1262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gries, Peter H. 2004. China’s New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Haidt, Jonathan. 2012. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Hall, Todd. 2011. “We Will Not Swallow This Bitter Fruit: Theorizing a Diplomacy of Anger.” Security Studies 20(4):521–555.Google Scholar
Hareli, Shlomo, and Parkinson, Brian. 2008. “What’s Social about Social Emotions?” Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior 38(2):131–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Sam. 2012. Free Will. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Hauslohner, Abigail. 2012. “In Libya, Dueling Protests Reflect Struggle for Nation’s Soul.” Washington Post, September 22. Accessed August 15, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/in-libya-dueling-protests-reflect-struggle-for-nations-soul/2012/09/21/f32e65fa-0431-11e2-8102-ebee9c66e190_story.html.Google Scholar
Henrich, Joseph, Heine, Steven J., and Norenzayan, Ara. 2010. “The Weirdest People in the World?” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33(2–3):61–83, discussion 83–135.Google Scholar
Heyer, Julia A., and Batzoglou, Ferry. 2012. “When in Doubt, Call them Nazis.” Der Spiegel, February 29. Accessed October 30, 2012. http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/when-in-doubt-call-them-nazis-ugly-stereotypes-of-germany-resurface-in-greece-a-817995.htmlGoogle Scholar
Holmes, Marcus. 2013. “The Force of Face-to-Face Diplomacy: Mirror Neurons and the Problem of Intentions.” International Organization 67(4):829–861.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchison, Emma. 2010. “Trauma and the Politics of Emotions: Constituting Identity, Security and Community after the Bali Bombing.” International Relations 24(1):65–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchison, , Emma, , and Bleiker, Roland. 2014. “Theorizing Emotions in World Politics.” International Theory 6(3):491–514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Independent. 2012. “The Welcome Return of the Union Jack.” Editorial, 8 August. Accessed August 15, 2014. http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/editorials/leading-article-the-welcome-return-of-the-union-jack-8015628.htmlGoogle Scholar
Jahoda, Gustav. 2008. “Tajfel, Henri.” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
James, William. 1884. “On Some Omissions of Introspective Psychology.” Mind 9(33):1–26.Google Scholar
Johnson, Ian, and Shanker, Thom. 2012. “Beijing Mixes Messages Over Anti-Japan Protests.” New York Times, September 16: A4.Google Scholar
Kesebir, Selin. 2012. “The Superorganism Account of Human Sociality: How and When Human Groups are Like Beehives.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 16(3):233–261.Google Scholar
Le Boutillier, Shaun. 2003. “Emergence and Analytical Dualism.” Philosophica 71:59–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebow, Richard N. 2008. A Cultural Theory of International Relations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ledgerwood, Alison, and Callahan, Shannon P.. 2012. “The Social Side of Abstraction: Psychological Distance Enhances Conformity to Group Norms.” Psychological Science 23(8):907–913.Google Scholar
Lindquist, Kristen A. 2013. “Emotions Emerge From More Basic Psychological Ingredients: A Modern Psychological Constructionist Model.” Emotion Review 5(4):356–358.Google Scholar
Lindquist, Kristen A., Wager, Tor D., Kober, Hedy, Bliss-Moreau, Eliza, and Barrett, Lisa F.. 2012. “The Brain Basis of Emotion: A Meta-Analytic Review.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 35(3):121–143, discussion 144–202.Google Scholar
List, Christian, and Spiekermann, Kai. 2013. “Methodological Individualism and Holism in Political Science: A Reconciliation.” American Political Science Review 107(4):629–643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Löwenheim, Oded, and Heimann, Gadi. 2008. “Revenge in International Politics.” Security Studies 17(4):685–724.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDermott, Rose. 2004. “The Feeling of Rationality: The Meaning of Neuroscientific Advances for Political Science.” Perspectives on Politics 2(104):691–706.Google Scholar
McDoom, Omar S. 2012. “The Psychology of Threat in Intergroup Conflict: Emotions, Rationality, and Opportunity in the Rwandan Genocide.” International Security 37(2):119–155.Google Scholar
McFarland, Sam, Webb, Matthew, and Brown, Derek. 2012. “All Humanity is My Ingroup: A Measure and Studies of Identification with All Humanity.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 103(5):830–853.Google Scholar
Mercer, Jonathan. 2005. “Rationality and Psychology in International Politics.” International Organization 59(1):77–106.Google Scholar
Mercer, Jonathan 2010. “Emotional Beliefs.” International Organization 64(1):1–31.Google Scholar
Mercer, Jonathan 2013. “Emotion and Strategy in the Korean War.” International Organization 67(2):221–252.Google Scholar
Monroe, Kristen R. 1996. The Heart of Altruism: Perceptions of Common Humanity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Neumann, Iver B. 2004. “Beware of Organicism: The Narrative Self of the State.” Review of International Studies 30(2):259–267.Google Scholar
New Statesman. 2012. “The London Games and the Rise of the New Patriotism.” Editorial, 8 August. Accessed August 15, 2014. http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/08/leader-london-games-and-rise-new-patriotismGoogle Scholar
Parkinson, Brian, Fischer, Agneta H., and Manstead, Antony S.R.. 2005. Emotion in Social Relations: Cultural, Group, and Interpersonal Processes. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Parkinson, Brian, and Simons, Gwenda. 2009. “Affecting Others: Social Appraisal and Emotion Contagion in Everyday Decision Making.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 35(8):1071–1084.Google Scholar
PBS Newshour. 2012a. “Muslim Protest in 20 Countries,” transcript, PBS Newshour, September 14. Accessed August 15, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world-july-dec12-protests1_09-14/Google Scholar
PBS Newshour 2012b. “The Nature of Muslim Protests and Police Response to Disorder,” transcript, PBS Newshour, September 14. Accessed August 15, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world-july-dec12-protests2_09-14/.Google Scholar
Qin, Amy, and Wong, Edward. 2012. “Smashed Skull Serves as Grim Symbol of Seething Patriotism.” New York Times, October 10: A6.Google Scholar
Rathbun, Brian C. 2012. Trust in International Cooperation: The Creation of International Security Institutions and the Domestic Politics of American Multilateralism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rensmann, Lars. 2004. “Collective Guilt, National Identity, and Political Processes in Contemporary Germany.” In Collective Guilt: International Perspectives, edited by Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertja Doosje, 169–190. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riling, James K., and Sanfey, Alan G.. 2011. “The Neuroscience of Social Decision-Making.” Annual Review of Psychology 62:23–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risse, Thomas, Ropp, Stephen C., and Sikkink, Kathryn, eds. 1999. The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ross, Andrew G. 2014. Mixed Emotions: Beyond Fear and Hatred in International Conflict. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sasley, Brent E. 2011. “Theorizing States’ Emotions.” International Studies Review 13(3):452–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searle, John R. 2004. Mind: A Brief Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sieff, Kevin, and Leiby, Richard. 2012. “Afghan Troops Get a Lesson in American Cultural Ignorance” Washington Post, 28 September. Accessed August 15, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/afghan-troops-get-a-lesson-in-american-cultural-ignorance/2012/09/28/6882621a-08d4-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.htmlGoogle Scholar
Smith, Eliot R. 1993. “Social Identity and Social Emotions: Toward New Conceptualizations of Prejudice.” In Affect, Cognition, and Stereotyping: Interactive Processes in Group Perception, edited by Diane M. Mackie and David L. Hamilton, 297–315. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Eliot R. and Mackie, Diane M.. 2008. “Intergroup Emotions.” In Handbook of Emotions, 3rd edition. edited by Michael Lewis, Jeannette M. Haviland-Jones, and Lisa F. Barrett, 428–439. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Eliot R., Seger, Charles R., and Mackie, Diane M.. 2007. “Can Emotions be Truly Group Level? Evidence Regarding Four Conceptual Criteria.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 93(3):431–446.Google Scholar
Stein, Janice G. 2013. “Threat Perception in International Relations.” In The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology, edited by Leonie Huddy, David O. Sears, and Jack S. Levy, 364–394. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri, and Turner, John C.. 1986. “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior.” In Psychology of Intergroup Relations, 2nd edition. edited by William G. Austin, and Stephen Worchel, 7–24. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.Google Scholar
Tarrant, Mark, Branscombe, Nyla R., Warner, Ruth H., and Weston, Dale. 2012a. “Social Identity and Perceptions of Torture: It’s Moral When We Do It.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48(2):513–518.Google Scholar
Tarrant, Mark, Calitri, Raff, and Weston, Dale. 2012b. “Social Identification Structures the Effects of Perspective Taking.” Psychological Science 23(9):973–978.Google Scholar
Waytz, Adam, and Epley, Nicholas. 2012. “Social Connection Enables Dehumanization.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48(1):70–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waytz, Adam, Epley, Nicholas, and Cacioppo, John T.. 2010. “Social Cognition Unbound: Insights Into Anthropomorphism and Dehumanization.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 19(1):58–62.Google Scholar
Wendt, Alexander. 1999. Social Theory of International Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wendt, Alexander 2004. “The State as Person in International Relations Theory.” Review of International Studies 30(2):289–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenzel, Michael. 2009. “Social Identity and Justice: Implications for Intergroup Relations.” In Intergroup Relations: The Role of Motivation and Emotion, edited by Sabine Otten, Kai Sassenberg, and Thomas Kessler, 61–79. New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Wight, Colin. 2004. “State Agency: Social Action Without Human Activity?” Review of International Studies 30(2):269–280.Google Scholar
Wiltermuth, Scott S., and Heath, Chip. 2009. “Synchrony and Cooperation.” Psychological Science 20(1):1–5.Google Scholar
Wolf, Reinhard. 2011. “Respect and Disrespect in International Politics: The Significance of Status Recognition.” International Theory 3(1):105–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, Iris M. 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Zaki, Jamil, and Ochsner, Kevin. 2011. “You, Me, and My Brain: Self and Other Representations in Social Cognitive Neuroscience.” In Social Neuroscience: Toward Understanding the Underpinnings of the Social Mind, edited by Alexander Todorov, Susan T. Fiske, and Deborah A. Prentice, 14–39. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar