Consider the culture of today after an event is given importance—we discuss our feelings and opinions on facebook, twitter or a blog. An article reported in Scientific American: 60 Second Science the new methods researchers are implementing to investigate group emotions in cyberspace. According to Scientific American: 60 Second Science, Michael Jackson’s death elicited sadness on the web, while a joyful and proud moment was experienced during the U.S. Presidential election on November 2008.
The website titled “We Feel Fine”, reported in Scientific American: 60 Second Science, breaks down feelings based on gender, nationality and age and many other demographics.
You don’t facebook, blog or twitter you say. No need. Identifying yourself with a social group is sufficient to arouse emotions about “group-relevant objects and events” writes Diane Mackie and colleagues.
Scientific American: 60 Second Science story
‘We feel fine’ website
Mackie, D., Smith, E.R., & Ray, D.G. (2008) Intergroup Emotions and Intergroup Relations
Hogg, Michael A. and R. Scott Tindale (eds). Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Group Process. Blackwell Publishing, 2002.
