The Role of Anger and Information in Deliberation (Top Student Paper).

Normative theories of deliberative democracy have revolved around the concept of the rational citizen. Ideally, fully informed and motivated citizens would gather together to engage in careful weighing of ideas and arrive at the best solution. The purpose of this study is to question such assumptions of the ideal citizen by examining the effects of one particular emotion, i.e., anger, and information on the deliberation process and post-deliberative outcomes. I hypothesized that a) anger will have a main effect on the deliberation process and the post-deliberation outcomes; b) amount of information will have a main effect on the deliberation process and post deliberation outcomes; and c) the effect of anger on deliberation will differ by the amount of information given (interaction effect). Participants were assigned to one of the four conditions (2(anger)x2(information)) to read articles about a controversial issue on environmental conservation. They then engaged in a 3 - 4 person group discussion about the issue described in the articles. Video recordings of the discussions were content analyzed for assessing the deliberation process. Post-deliberation outcomes were assessed through self-reported measures after the discussion sessions. Results indicate a clear pattern of anger significantly influencing the post-deliberation outcomes but not necessarily individual performance during the deliberation process. Level of information, on the other hand, affected the deliberation process, while only having an indirect effect on the post-deliberation outcomes. Anger and information's distinctive routes of effects open up new interpretations on the functioning of the two in deliberation processes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]