The Affective Nature of Affective Polarization: Evidence for a Constructed, Not Visceral, Response

What is the nature of affective partisan polarization? Is it guided by visceral affective responses experienced on a non-conscious level, as implied by hot cognition models, or does it behave like a consciously rehearsed attitude located in long-term memory, as implied by canonical models of partisanship? We answer this question measuring partisans' affective reactions to images of US politicians with self-reports and physiological indicators of valence and arousal. Our results show that partisans do not display reliable visceral reactions to images of politicians, even though they report feeling more negatively about out-party politicians than in-party politicians. This disconnect between non-conscious physiological responses and conscious self-reports is consistent with constructivist theories of affect as well as canonical models of partisanship. As such, it may be best to conceptualize affective polarization as an attitude as opposed to a hot cognition.