Between evidence and emotions: Emotional appeals in science communication

Abstract

In the field of science communication, there is currently a great deal of discussion on how individuals can be reached, not only through fact-oriented communication, but also through emotional appeals and ‘edutainment’ approaches. This discussion has been further intensified by the changing conditions of new media environments. From an academic viewpoint, the discussion is often met with scepticism. However, categorical statements about a supposed dichotomy of emotion and rationality are misleading. What is needed are differentiated arguments and analyses. Nevertheless, emotions in science communication are an often overseen research field. With this thematic issue, we seek to enrich the scientific discourse by providing research from authors coming from different perspectives using different concepts, methods, and cases. In this editorial, we summarise the contribution of ten different articles on three levels: (1) emotions of science communicators, (2) emotional(ised) content, and (3) emotions of science communication audiences.