“You Need to Calm Down”: How Tone Shapes Political Discussions

• In Event: Interpersonal Networks in Tweets, Conversations, Neighborhoods, and the Pandemic

Abstract

Although political discussions—especially when they involve disagreement—have numerous bene-fits for society, people are averse to them. We propose that this aversion is due to the tone of political discussions and that the benefits of these discussions are also reliant on this tone. Using two survey experiments (N=1,045 and N=1,540), we indeed find that the desire to—and the results of—discussing politics depends largely on the tone of these discussions. While people expect political discussions to be heated and thus want to avoid them, once these expectations are changed, people are more willing to engage. Further, calm political discussions are much more beneficial than heated political discussions are—even when they both involve disagreement—leading to a variety of positive outcomes. One last round of survey experiments (N=391 and N=1,000) examines the role of conflict aversion as well as demonstrates that tone is even more important than agreement in determining people’s likelihood of engagement. Our findings speak to people’s willingness to take part in, and benefit from, political discussions with a variety of viewpoints.

Authors

• Elizabeth Chase Connors, University of South Carolina

• Chris Howell