Is Civility Contagious? Examining the Impact of Modeling in Online Political Discussions

Abstract

This study examines a way to promote civility in online political discussions through modeling discursive cues. An online experiment ( N = 321) was conducted to investigate the impact of civil and uncivil discursive cues on participants’ mode of discussion. Results show that participants who were exposed to civil cues were more likely to engage in civil discourse themselves, stay on-topic, and offer additional perspectives in their comments. We also found that metacommunication (i.e., talking about the tone of discussion) engendered more metacommunication. This study illustrates the impact of modeling discursive cues and illuminates the possibility that participants in online discussion can improve their discursive environment.

An online experiment on the influence of online user comments on attitudes toward a minority group

“…Graf et al (2017) found that experimental participants exposed to comments written in uncivil language were more likely to perceive the commenters less favorably and less likely to trust the information presented in the comments. Han et al (2018) found that participants exposed to civil comments were more likely to post comments that were more civil and more relevant to the topic of the discussion, while participants exposed to uncivil comments tended to comment more on the tone of the discussion.…”

Online communities in the study of political communication

“…Популярно сочетание опроса, основанного на самооценках, с замером цифровых следов пользователя [16]. В ряде исследований респонденты заполняют анкету и выполняют определенную задачу, в которой онлайн-поведение моделируется и контролируется, например, реакции респондентов на комментарии к новостям [24]. Эксперименты помогают ответить на сложные вопросы, например, о намерениях пользователей участвовать в жизни сообществ.…”

“…Политическая коммуникация в социальных сетях в силу своей специфики зачастую проходит в ожесточенном ключе: праворадикальные течения используют «язык ненависти» (hate speech) дискриминационного характера (оскорбления, оценочные суждения, сарказм) [5; 57]. Как правило, вежливая дискуссия порождает уважительную реакцию и способствует развитию конструктивной коммуникации, не отходящей от темы [24]. Многие исследователи изучают поляризацию мнений и пользователей по разным вопросам, как, например, по поводу Брекзита и выборов 2016 года в США [15].…”

The Power of Civility: A Transdisciplinary Examination of Adolescent Social Power and Bullying

“…Indeed, following social conventions and respecting others allows for the smoother transmission of ideas and information across transdisciplinary boundaries (Della Chiesa, Christoph, & Hinton, 2009). Civility, or a lack thereof, appears to have a contagious effect on communication (Han, Brazeal, & Pennington, 2018), rendering a transdisciplinary endeavour progressively easier or more difficult depending on its presence or absence (Hyun, 2011;Pohl, 2005). Civility has been noted as the answer to the inevitable disciplinary conflicts that arise when conducting transdisciplinary research (Benesh et al, 2015).…”