Third-person perception of online comments: Civil ones persuade you more than me

Chen, Gina Masullo; Ng, Yee Man Margaret

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.10.014

Cited by 40 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The current study used a between-subject experimental design that manipulated the level of incivility of a user comment, keeping other features of the message and its context constant. The current finding substantiates claims by Chen and Ng (2016) who suppose that uncivil comments may lead to resistance to persuasion and lower presumed vulnerability of others because they might be perceived as transgressing societal norms of tolerable interaction style and thus less effective.…”

Section: Corrective and Restrictive Actions 21supporting

confidence: 89%

Uncivil User Comments Increase Users’ Intention to Engage in Corrective Actions and Their Support for Authoritative Restrictive Actions

Naab

Brandmeier

2019

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

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In an experimental study ( n = 213), we vary the incivility of a user comment below a mock news post on the Facebook page of a German news outlet. We investigate determinants of the users’ intention to engage in corrective actions and their support for restrictions by Facebook and law enforcement. We test an integrated model and find that incivility of a comment affects users’ support for restrictive and intention for corrective actions, whereas the presumed influence of the comment does not have an effect. The users’ commitment to free speech decreases and paternalism increases their support for authoritative restrictions.

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Section: Corrective and Restrictive Actions 21supporting

confidence: 89%

Uncivil User Comments Increase Users’ Intention to Engage in Corrective Actions and Their Support for Authoritative Restrictive Actions

Naab

Brandmeier

2019

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly

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“…Research has already demonstrated that incivility can decrease credibility perceptions, increase risk perceptions, and influence perceptions of news (Anderson et al, 2014; Chen & Ng, 2016; Ng & Dentenber, 2005). Future studies should continue to build on content analyses by taking this media effects approach—using experimental designs to test the effects of uncivil news comments on individuals’ perceptions of media bias, media trust, political cynicism, attitude toward the news outlet/brand, or willingness to participate in discussion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have examined the effects of incivility. A handful of studies have found that people respond negatively to incivility (Phillips & Smith, 2003) and that the use of an uncivil tone or expression in discussion threads and political blog posts can decrease message credibility, decrease persuasive effects of the message, and cause people to form negative attitudes about ideological issues (Chen & Ng, 2016; Hwang, Borah, Namkoong, & Veenstra, 2008; Ng & Dentenber, 2005). Additional studies have found that exposure to uncivil comments about emerging technologies polarizes risk perceptions (Anderson et al, 2014).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Vitriol

Seely

2017

Electronic News

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The potential of online discussion for political engagement, expression of opinions, and participation has been lauded by both scholars and journalism practitioners, but accusations of incivility within comment forums abound. This study utilized a quantitative content analysis to examine and compare levels of incivility within virtual discussion forums of the most widely read mainstream news outlets and political blogs. A random sample of 851 user-generated comments was coded for dimensions of incivility and direction of incivility. As predicted, results showed significantly more instances of incivility in political blogs compared to mainstream outlets, specifically regarding insulting language, vulgarity, and stereotyping of political parties. No difference in the frequency of incivility was found between liberal and conservative outlet forums. Implications for meaningful political discussion and expression are discussed.

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“…Houston et al (2011), in an experiment with college students, showed that partisan comments attached to a news story (presenting a balanced position about the Obama-McCain 2008 election campaign in the United States) made it look more biased, compared to the same story with mixed or without comments. Chen & Ng (2016) supported that negative civil comments (as opposed to negative uncivil comments) have a stronger effect on the perceived effectiveness of news favoring or opposing abortions in the United States. Shi et al (2014) found that pro-smoking uncivil comments caused a diminished smoking risk perception among smokers and produced more negative attitudes toward quitting than pro-smoking civil comments, while antismoking comments, civil or uncivil, did not affect these outcome variables.…”

Section: Review Of Empirical Studiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

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

Stylianou¹,

Sofokleous²

2019

Communication & Society

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In recent years, there is interest in examining the effects of user comments on online content consumers' attitudes and perceptions. Building on theoretical foundations from social psychology and using an online experimental design, we investigated whether exposure to online comments attached to news content affects attitudes toward refugees. We recruited students from a public university in the Mediterranean region and, after administering a printed pretest on their attitudes toward refugees, we assigned them into three groups: one that read a series of positive comments about refugees (positive experimental group), one that read a series of negative comments about refugees (negative experimental group) and one that did not read comments (control group). The comments and a neutral reference news video were communicated to the participants via email during a five-day period after the pretest. After the implementation of the experimental stimuli, we administered a modified version of the pretest as a posttest. We found that exposure to positive comments reduced prejudice and that the intensity of prior prejudice was positively associated with the magnitude of prejudice reduction. Exposure to negative comments did not affect prejudice. A repeat posttest, administered one week after the posttest, showed stability of the observed attitude change.

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Third-person perception of online comments: Civil ones persuade you more than me

Cited by 40 publications

References 56 publications

Uncivil User Comments Increase Users’ Intention to Engage in Corrective Actions and Their Support for Authoritative Restrictive Actions

Uncivil User Comments Increase Users’ Intention to Engage in Corrective Actions and Their Support for Authoritative Restrictive Actions

Virtual Vitriol

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

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