Can Experts Afford an Emotion? The Effect of Emotional and Uncivil Expert Language on Public Perceptions about the Russo-Ukrainian War

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has resulted in an immense boost of public expert discourses about the causes and consequences of the war, its dynamics, and responses by the international community. Foreign policy experts speaking on behalf of Ukraine and actively trying to mobilize public and political support for the country in the USA and Europe are very vocal in these discourses. While professional experts are often imagined to be politically neutral knowledge providers and communicators, amid the war and its extreme politicization, experts do make public statements – especially on social media – that appear emotional, hostile to war perpetrators and at times uncivil. This study aims to examine whether the use of emotional and uncivil language in experts’ statements on social media has an effect on public perceptions of the experts, expert messages, and the Russo-Ukrainian war. Drawing on Expectancy Violation Theory and previous studies of incivility and emotions on social media, we develop a set of hypotheses about possible effects of emotional and uncivil language, rooted in the experts’ affective experiences of anger and frustration, on public perceptions of experts as credible sources of specialized knowledge, evaluations of the experts’ messages, and the readiness to support Ukrainian resistance against Russian aggression. To test these hypotheses, we conduct a survey experiment in the US, one of the main providers of political, economic, and military aid to Ukraine. Preliminary findings suggest that emotional language by experts enhances public engagement and perceived expertise, while neutral language boosts perceived message accuracy. In contrast, uncivil language erodes public trust and perceptions of expert competence, suggesting significant risks for experts seeking to inform their audiences on sensitive topics. Importantly, the language choices did not appear to influence support for Ukraine, and the effects were generally homogeneous across demographic and ideological lines. By feeding these novel findings in the research on policy experts’ discourses, effects of emotions on trust in expertise, and public perceptions of the Russo-Ukrainian war, this study seeks to advance our understanding of expert knowledge communication and its effects in the context of military conflicts.