The Effects of Political Incivility on Political Trust and Political Participation: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Research

A great deal of experimental research has focused on how political incivility affects ordinary citizens. A common finding is that incivility reduces political trust. Effects on political participation have also been investigated, but seem less consistent across studies. The results of a systematic review and meta-analysis, including a total of 24 manuscripts containing 35 studies, revealed that the estimated effect of political incivility on political trust was significant, Hedges’ g = −0.19 [95% CI: −0.30, −0.09]. The effect was small, however, and some indication of publication bias was found. The effect was stronger when the incivility was communicated through video versus other media, and for studies conducted in the United States versus Europe. The estimated effect of political incivility on political participation was almost non-existent, g = −0.02 [−0.11, 0.08], although it was significantly stronger (more negative) for studies conducted in Europe rather than in the United States.

Communication Interdependence and Cohabitation: The Role of Interpersonal Technologies in Satisfaction and Disillusionment among Couples in Transition

The transition to cohabitation is a major developmental milestone for romantic couples, yet it is linked to myriad negative outcomes. This study extends the communication interdependence perspective (CIP) to understand the role of technology use in relationship transitions (i.e., the transition to cohabitation). Couples (N = 258 individuals) completed an online survey before and after transitioning to cohabitation to test actor and partner effects of technology integration, segmentation, and difficulty transitioning on relationship satisfaction and ambivalence. Results showed that for actors, constructive integration had positive associations and destructive integration had negative associations with relational outcomes. Difficulty transitioning between channels of communication also had negative implications for relationships. Longitudinal results indicated that negative integration patterns could sometimes buffer against relationship disillusionment. Theoretical implications for the CIP and practical implications for couples are discussed.

How Do Individuals in a Radical Echo Chamber React to Opposing Views? Evidence from a Content Analysis of Stormfront

Calls to “break up” radical echo chambers by injecting them with alternative viewpoints are common. Yet, thus far there is little evidence about the impact of such counter-messaging. To what extent and how do individuals who inhabit a radical echo chamber engage with messages that challenge their core beliefs? Drawing on data from the radical right forum Stormfront we address this question with a large-scale content and longitudinal analysis of users’ posting behavior, which analyses more than 35,000 English language contributions to the forum spanning 2011 through 2013. Our findings show that engaging with oppositional views is actually a core practice among Stromfront users which invites active participation and encourages engagement. Indeed, many “echoes” in the echo chamber we studied were not core beliefs being restated, but the sound of opposing viewpoints being undermined and marginalized. These findings underscore the limited potential for counter-messages to undermine radical echo chambers.

Replication Note: What is Political Incivility?

Because political incivility is so consequential and those consequences depend on observers’ perceptions, we must know what Americans perceive as uncivil. Stryker, Conway, and Danielson (2016) conducted one of the first studies addressing this using confirmatory factor analysis on 23 types of potential incivility, but the authors used a local sample representing undergraduates at one southwestern university. Using 20 of their 23 measures and replicating their analyses on a national sample of more than 2000 respondents representing U.S. whites, Blacks, and Latinx, this study finds the same conceptual structure for perceived political incivility with very similar response patterns as Stryker et al. (2016). Perceived political incivility is an overarching construct with three analytically distinct, inter-correlated dimensions: insulting utterances, deception, and behaviors that tend to shut down ongoing and inclusive discussion.

How Communicating about Discrimination Influences Attributions of Blame and Condemnation

Across two randomized experiments, we examine how communication about discriminatory acts can influence judgments of blame and condemnation. Specifically, we consider whether attributing discrimination to implicit or explicit bias affects how people evaluate online reports of discrimination. In Study 1 (N = 947), we explore this question in the context of an online news environment, and in Study 2 (N = 121) we replicate our results on a social media site (i.e., Twitter). Across both studies, we document how viewers respond differently to reports of discrimination due to variation in agent motives, the type of bias that purportedly caused the discriminatory behavior, and the extent to which agents are reported to have completed implicit bias training. We discuss our theoretical contribution to perspectives of blame attribution and the communication of bias as well as the practical implications of our findings.

Revisiting the Relationship Between Deception and Design: A Replication and Extension of Hancock et al. ()

Evidence published nearly 20 years ago suggested people tell more lies per social interaction via synchronous, distributed, and recordless media (the phone) versus relatively richer (face-to-face communication) and leaner media (email, instant messaging). With nontrivial changes to the size and variety of our media landscape, it is worth re-examining the relationship between deception and technology. Over 7 days, 250 participants reported their social interactions and lies across face-to-face communication, social media, texting, the phone, video chat, and email. Replicating Hancock, Thom-Santelli, and Ritchie (2004), people told the most lies per social interaction over synchronous, distributed, and recordless media (the phone, video chat), though the effects were small and between-person effects explained more variance than between-media effects. Lying rates were also associated with aversive personality traits, plus antisocial, and relational deception motives. Together, while media options have evolved, technological design features often remain stable and indicate deception rates. Theoretical contributions are discussed.

Communicative Resilience of First-Generation College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

As U.S. higher education institutions closed their campuses and transitioned to online education due to the high risk for COVID-19 transmission, first-generation college students (FGS) were particularly susceptible to multiple stressors. Findings from a sample of 44 participants reveal seven resilience triggers, four resilience processes, and three relationships between resilience processes and triggers. Based on these findings, we advance the communication theory of resilience by establishing the ways triggers can be structural, emergent, and overlapping and by theorizing resilience processes as both enduring and time-bound/contingent. We also employ a new qualitative method, thematic co-occurrence analysis, to illuminate the relationships between the resilience triggers and processes. Practical applications for higher education administrators, teaching instructors, and student support professionals are described.

Emotional Appeals, Climate Change, and Young Adults: A Direct Replication of

There is much need to verify the robustness of published findings in the field of communication—particularly regarding the effects of persuasive emotional appeals about social issues. To this end, we present the results from a preregistered, direct replication of C. Skurka, J. Niederdeppe, R. Romero-Canyas, and D. Acup (2018). The original study found that a threat appeal about climate change can increase risk perception and activism intentions and that a humor appeal can also increase activism intentions with a large sample of young adults. Using the same stimuli, measures, and experimental design with a similar sample, we fail to replicate these main effects. We do, however, replicate age as a moderator of humor’s effect on perceived risk, such that the humor appeal only persuaded emerging adults (ages 18–21.9). We consider several explanations for our discrepant findings, including the challenges (and opportunities) that persuasion researchers must navigate when communicating about rapidly evolving social issues.

Embodied Cognition and Media Engagement: When the Loneliness of the Protagonist Makes the Reader Sense Coldness (and Vice Versa)

Embodied cognition research documents the interplay between physical sensations and corresponding psychological experiences within the individual. Accordingly, physical warmth leads to a sense of social inclusion, and being socially rejected leads to physical coldness. In the current research, we demonstrate that these embodied cognition relationships also apply to a media consumer and a media character with whom the consumer identifies. In Study 1, participants (N = 120) read one of four narratives in which we manipulated identification with the protagonist and her social exclusion/inclusion situation. In Study 2 (N = 120), the narrative described the protagonist experiencing coldness/warmth in high/low identification conditions. The findings suggest that when the character experiences either the physical or the psychological state, the identifying consumer consequently experiences either psychological feelings or physical sensations, respectively. We discuss potential limitations of the study and also its contribution to media psychology and to embodied cognition research.

Rethinking the Virtuous Circle Hypothesis on Social Media: Subjective versus Objective Knowledge and Political Participation

Despite early promise, scholarship has shown little empirical evidence of learning from the news on social media. At the same time, scholars have documented the problem of information ‘snacking’ and information quality on these platforms. These parallel trends in the literature challenge long-held assumptions about the pro-social effects of news consumption and political participation. We argue that reliance on social media for news does not contribute to people’s real level of political knowledge (objective knowledge), but instead only influences people’s impression of being informed (subjective knowledge). Subjective knowledge is just as important for driving political participation, a potentially troubling trend given the nature of news consumption on social media. We test this expectation with panel survey data from the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. Two path model specifications (fixed effects and autoregressive) support our theoretical model. Implications for the study of the ‘dark side’ of social media and democracy are discussed.