Yan Xiaohan, Liu Yi, Chen Yan, Liu Tiezhong
School of Management, Beijing Institute of Technology, 5 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing 100080, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Jan 3;15(1):41. doi: 10.3390/bs15010041.
To enhance emergency management and public opinion governance, improve the accuracy of forecasting group emotional responses, and elucidate the complex pathways of multi-factor coupling in the formation of group emotions, this study constructs a theoretical framework grounded in the social combustion theory. Through web scraping and text sentiment analysis, group emotional tendencies were measured in 40 public emergency cases from the past five years. Using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method, the study explored the coupling, configuration effect, and formation pathways of factors such as "burning substance", "accelerant", and "ignition" in the emergence of group emotions. The results reveal significant differences in the generation pathways of positive versus negative group emotion. Inter-group threat as a "burning substance" is more likely to trigger negative group emotion, while "accelerant" plays a pivotal role in shaping and guiding emotional responses. Notably, the government's response speed is critical for fostering positive emotions, whereas the emergence of rumors significantly contributes to the spread of negative group emotions. Additionally, the occurrence of stimulating events markedly increases the generation of negative group emotions. This study provides an important theoretical foundation and practical insights for the management and regulation of group emotions.
为加强应急管理和舆情治理，提高对群体情绪反应预测的准确性，阐明群体情绪形成过程中多因素耦合的复杂路径，本研究构建了基于社会燃烧理论的理论框架。通过网络爬虫和文本情感分析，对过去五年40起公共突发事件中的群体情绪倾向进行了测度。运用模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA）方法，探讨了群体情绪产生过程中“燃烧物质”“助燃剂”“点火”等因素的耦合、组态效应及形成路径。结果显示，积极群体情绪与消极群体情绪的产生路径存在显著差异。作为“燃烧物质”的群体间威胁更易引发消极群体情绪，而“助燃剂”在塑造和引导情绪反应方面起关键作用。值得注意的是，政府的反应速度对培育积极情绪至关重要，而谣言的出现显著助长了消极群体情绪的传播。此外，刺激性事件的发生显著增加了消极群体情绪的产生。本研究为群体情绪的管理与调控提供了重要的理论基础和实践启示。
