The Emotional Voter

Revision with unchanged content. This book investigates the effects of an empathetic emotional disposition in political decision making. Previous research has shown that empathy has important implications in group-centered behavior. However, little research has been done with experimental tests of how empathy directly impacts behavior. This book uses experimental and survey research methods to test the hypothesis that empathy is a general guide to collective action. Empathy is not only a significant predictor of behavior, but is a conditional characteristic that interacts with other factors in cooperative action.