Emotions matter

Abstract

Against the backdrop of Germany’s welcome culture on the one hand and rising xenophobia on the other, this article explores the impact of emotions on German reactions to the “refugee crisis”. While volunteers in support of refugees were driven by feelings of compassion motivating them to offer their help, many other people felt fear motivating them to harshly reject the admission of refugees. What distinguishes the first group from the second seems to be the capability to identify and empathise with the refugees. Since the emotion of fear is at the very core of xenophobia, counteracting xenophobic attitudes demands the acquisition of a better understanding of the interplay between fear and the ability to empathize. Insights from cognitive psychology explain why empathy with someone perceived as a threat can only develop under very specific conditions. To create these conditions, it is important to reach out to everyone who, for whatever reason, holds xenophobic views. Given that people with deviant opinions – including xenophobia – often join the same peergroups like families and circles of friends and colleagues, this article suggests that people actively involved in the support of refugees could create the necessary environment for empathy to develop and ideally function as an antidote against xenophobia.

I am extremely thankful for the constructive, stimulating, and empathic (!) critique of Nicolas Fromm and Nikolas Scherer, who both contributed a lot to the genesis of this article.