Emotional Triggers vs Direct Exposure: Georgia's Foreign Policy Responses

Insights from the Field

Emotional Priming

Threat Perception

Foreign Policy Attitudes

Georgia

In the Shadow of Conflict: How Emotions, Threat Perceptions, and Victimization Influence Foreign Policy Attitudes was authored by Thomas Zeitzoff and Alexander Kupatadze. It was published by Cambridge in BJPS in 2021.

This study explores how emotional primes and threat perceptions shape foreign policy attitudes in Georgia regarding Russian aggression.

Survey experiment conducted across diverse regions with varying exposure levels to conflict and internally displaced persons reveals:

Emotional reminders of past violence amplify perceived threats from Russia
Indirect exposure through priming increases support for hardline policies without direct anger effects

Key findings indicate that indirect reminders enhance attitudes indirectly via increased threat perception and anger.

Contrasting the impact of emotional triggers versus direct exposure offers new insights into understanding foreign policy responses to conflict.