Does emotion-inducing messaging increase support for costly foreign policies? : Experimental evidence from Czechia

This thesis focuses on sympathy, other-oriented emotion connected to solidarity, to better understand its potential and role in supporting costly foreign policies. The presented study examines the effect of sympathy-messaging on costly-policy support, as well as the relationship between sympathy-messaging, institutional trust, and other related concepts. The study is an online experiment with a between-group design. The sample consists of the Czech general population (N = 1219; of which 763 met the inclusion criteria). The participants are subjected either to a procedural (n = 353) or a sympathy-inducing message (n = 410) about Czech arms export to Saudi Arabia, a country known to violate human rights. The non-stable results for more demanding policies (stopping arms exports, restricting all exports) and behavioural intentions across models indicate that the effects of sympathy are bounded. This is also supported by the finding that the only policy that shows consistently strong attitudinal support is the one seen as least costly: diplomatic pressure. Therefore, it is suggested that further case studies are necessary to fully evaluate the potential of sympathy communication not only in costly-policy support but also more generally in political communication and in-group, out-group dynamics.