Let Us Not Wallow in the Valley of Despair: The Role of Emotion, Panic, and Sympathy Discourses in Promoting Productive Actions

Facing severe public crises, individuals might fall into a valley of despair as they navigate overwhelming positive and negative emotions. The Communication Theory of Resilience (CTR) highlights the significance of legitimizing negative emotions and highlighting positive emotions in fostering resilience, while the Stress and Coping Framework of Resilience (SCFR) highlights the negative emotions in cultivating coping actions. However, the emotion dynamics remain underexplored. In this study, we propose the Emotion Dynamics Model of Resilience (EDMR) and employ four-wave panel data in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic on social media to test the hypotheses. The results show a U-shaped relationship between negative emotions and online donations, contrasted with an inverted U-shaped relationship between positive emotions and online donations. Further, panic and sympathy discourses amplify the effect of emotions on productive actions. EDMR advances extant understanding of resilience processes by examining the nonlinear effects of emotions and the interaction between emotions and discourse.