Online Political Discourse: Exploring Differences in Effects of Civil and Uncivil Disagreement in News Website Comments

Chen, Gina Masullo; Lu, Shuning

doi:10.1080/08838151.2016.1273922

Cited by 123 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…However, when disagreement is accompanied by incivility, research has associated it with a host of negative outcomes, including trust degradation, the emergence of negative attitudes toward others, and the development of negative affect and polarization among discussants and observers (e.g. Anderson, Brossard, Scheufele, Xenos, & Ladwig, 2014; Borah, 2014; Brooks & Geer, 2007; Chen & Lu, 2017). As such, incivility can—in some cases—exert a damaging influence on democracy because it negatively affects discussion quality and hinders deliberation, thereby further perpetuating to the partisan fragmentation thought to contribute to its emergence.…”

Section: A Theoretical Rendering Of Online Political Incivilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A network analysis of political incivility dimensions

Hopp

2019

Communication and the Public

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Although online political incivility has increasingly become an object of scholarly inquiry, there exists little agreement on the construct’s precise definition. The goal of this work was therefore to explore the relational dynamics among previously identified dimensions of online political incivility. The results of a regularized partial correlation network indicated that a communicator’s desire to exclude attitude-discrepant others from discussion played an especially influential role in the variable network. The data also suggested that certain facets of incivility may be likely to be deployed together. Specifically, the data suggested the existence of two identifiable groupings of incivility factors: (1) variables pertaining to violation of speech-based norms and (2) variables pertaining to the violation of the inclusion-based norms that underlie democratic communication processes. These results are discussed in the context of political discussion and deliberation.

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Section: A Theoretical Rendering Of Online Political Incivilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A network analysis of political incivility dimensions

Hopp

2019

Communication and the Public

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“…As noted by Coe, Kenski, and Rains (2014), "commitment to civil discourse-the free and respectful exchange of ideas-has been viewed as a democratic ideal from the ancient Athenian forums to the mediated political debates of modern times" (p. 658). It should, then, be of little surprise that research suggests that the abandonment of good faith discussion in favor of uncivil, toxic, or otherwise bad faith discussion has a deleterious effect on the discursive processes that are foundational to democracy (e.g., Brooks & Geer, 2007;Chen & Lu, 2017).…”

Section: Literature Review Incivility In Online Political Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlating Self-Report and Trace Data Measures of Incivility: A Proof of Concept

Hopp

Vargo

Dixon

et al. 2018

Social Science Computer Review

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This study correlated self-report and trace data measures of political incivility. Specifically, we asked respondents to provide estimates of the degree to which they engage in uncivil political communication online. These estimates were then compared to computational measures of uncivil social media discussion behavior. The results indicated that those who self-disclose uncivil online behavior also tend to generate content on social media that is uncivil as identified by Google’s Perspective application programming interface. Taken as a whole, this work suggests that combining self-report and behavioral trace data may be a fruitful means of developing multimethod measures of complex communication behaviors.

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“…In sum, evidence is mixed, when it comes to the effect of incivility on deliberation and engagement in political discourse. On the one hand, incivility can lead to higher participation as it triggers aggression and negative emotion (Lu & Gall Myrick, 2016), on the other hand, people may get annoyed by these forms of discussions and turn away from them (Chen & Lu, 2017)especially those who are conflict avoidant (Bjarnøe et al, 2019).…”

Section: The Effects Of Incivilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Is Context the Key? The (Non-)Differential Effects of Mediated Incivility in Three European Countries

Otto¹,

Lecheler²,

Schuck

2019

Political Communication

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There is a worry that serious forms of political conflict, in particular, uncivil behavior of politicians, increases political cynicism and demobilizes the public. Despite the close relation of incivility with social and cultural norms of what is an acceptable form of discussion, studies are mostly restricted to one country. To overcome this blind spot, we conduct a cross-national experiment in three countries (the Netherlands, UK and Spain) testing whether civil and uncivil forms of mediated political conflict affect cynicism toward the EU, political participation intentions, and the support for the policies discussed. Results indicate that despite different levels of conflict in the news, and different levels of cynicism and participation in these countries, the effects of incivility are homogenous. Uncivil political conflict has negative effects on political participation intention and policy support but does not significantly affect cynicismin each of the three countries. We also test the role of an individual-level factor, namely Tolerance for Disagreement (TfD). Citizens with low levels of TfD are more affected by uncivil conflict, while subjects with high TfD seem to be immune against violations of social norms. We discuss these finding against the backdrop of individual and cultural influences on political communication effects and cross-cultural experimental research in more general terms.

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Online Political Discourse: Exploring Differences in Effects of Civil and Uncivil Disagreement in News Website Comments

Cited by 123 publications

References 44 publications

A network analysis of political incivility dimensions

A network analysis of political incivility dimensions

Correlating Self-Report and Trace Data Measures of Incivility: A Proof of Concept

Is Context the Key? The (Non-)Differential Effects of Mediated Incivility in Three European Countries

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