Although the news value about the revolts in North Africa is low at the moment, there are still major protests going on against the government in and around countries such as Tunisia and Egypt. Even today, opponents of the local regime still come together to protest against the rulers of the country. If you watch shots on television of such rebellions, you are probably wondering where all these people come from and what motivates them to participate in these revolts. How does group formation during these kinds of rebellions actually occur?
A good example of group formation occurred several months ago in Egypt when Google manager Wael Ghonim gathered many more supporters against Mubarak’s regime via his frequently visited Facebook page. In addition to his Facebook page, numerous Egyptians joined the protest after they had seen how the Google manager burst into tears on television where he was confronted with the victims of the revolution. Ghonim’s tears have seized millions of people. His tears did change the minds of those who first believed that Mubarak had to remain.
How this successful situation has occurred has largely to do with the emotional state in which these people live. A theory of Cacioppo, the elaboration likelihood model, shows that emotions are one of the factors that could influence people’s decisions.
Emiel Krahmer, a professor at Tilburg University who is specialized in cognitive science, explains the situations that are still going on in North Africa from a scientific point of view. In his interview, which can be seen below, he will talk about the mass of emotional factors that are involved in such revolutions which result in major group formations.
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