Social Identity Threat Motivates Science-Discrediting Online Comments

Abstract

Experiencing social identity threat from scientific findings can lead people to cognitively devalue the respective findings. Three studies examined whether potentially threatening scientific findings motivate group members to take action against the respective findings by publicly discrediting them on the Web. Results show that strongly (vs. weakly) identified group members (i.e., people who identified as “gamers”) were particularly likely to discredit social identity threatening findings publicly (i.e., studies that found an effect of playing violent video games on aggression). A content analytical evaluation of online comments revealed that social identification specifically predicted critiques of the methodology employed in potentially threatening, but not in non-threatening research (Study 2). Furthermore, when participants were collectively (vs. self-) affirmed, identification did no longer predict discrediting posting behavior (Study 3). These findings contribute to the understanding of the formation of online collective action and add to the burgeoning literature on the question why certain scientific findings sometimes face a broad public opposition.

Identity and Epistemic Emotions During Knowledge Revision: A Potential Account for the Backfire Effect

“…are perceived as identity-threatening and trigger ego-protective responses that motivate individuals to restore a sense of self-worth (Nyhan & Reifler, 2015b), which includes undermining and counter-arguing the refutation and reinforcing the original belief. For example, Nauroth and colleagues have shown that individuals who strongly self-identify as "gamers" (compared with weaker selfidentification) will more likely negatively criticize research reports on the negative effects of video games, discredit scientists responsible for such reports, and experience more anger (Nauroth et al, 2014(Nauroth et al, , 2015.…”

“…According to Eccles (2009), individuals engage in activities, behaviors, and tasks to validate their identities. As a result, individuals will not be motivated to engage in activities inconsistent with their self-image and personal and social identities (Eccles, 2009;Nauroth et al, 2014Nauroth et al, , 2015, such as accepting information that undermines valued or salient aspects of identity. Thus, situations perceived as aversive to attaining identity-related needs, such as the need to maintain identity integrity, ought to have negative value that can lead to experiencing negative emotions (Pekrun & Perry, 2014).…”

“…Lewandowsky, Stritzke, Oberauer, & Morales, 2005) and expend effort to counter-argue it (Nauroth et al, 2014(Nauroth et al, , 2015Nyhan & Reifler, 2010;Prasad et al, 2009). In so doing they activate more evidence that supports their original belief.…”

“…Nyhan and colleagues (Nyhan & Reifler, 2010, 2015aNyhan et al, 2013Nyhan et al, , 2014 noted that the backfire effect is due to motivated reasoning where individuals marshal cognitive resources to arrive at a predetermined outcome. In the case of the backfire effect, researchers speculate that this outcome is an identity-protective action in response to threatening refutation messages, which results in greater skepticism and counterarguing refutations (Nauroth et al, 2014(Nauroth et al, , 2015. Similarly, Kendeou et al (2013Kendeou et al ( , 2014 contend that this competitive activation among information is a core determinant of the success or failure of knowledge revision.…”

Comentarios sobre inmigración en tres periódicos en línea españoles: Aproximación a un discurso racista enmascarado

“…Si bien el discurso político, noticioso y editorial sobre la inmigración o el racismo ha sido más abordado (Zapata-Barrero & Van Dijk, 2007;Bañón, 2008;Serradell & Munté, 2010), el de las redes sociales y la web 2.0 son más recientes, aunque también arrojan datos sobre la influencia de esos discursos en la concepción del otro (Nauroth et al, 2015;Hsueh, Yogeeswaran & Malinen, 2015).…”