Towards a Motivational Understanding of Uncivil Political Talk Online

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Paper Session: Political Communication Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

This manuscript presents, explicates, and tests a basic motivational model of uncivil online political talk. Building upon self-determination theory, it was suggested that those intrinsically motivated to engaged on online political discussion would be less likely to self-report engaging in uncivil online political communication while those engaging in political talk for extrinsic reasons would be more likely to self-report engaging in uncivil online political talk. As expected, the results suggested that extrinsically-motivated deliberators were increasingly likely to engage in uncivil political discourse. Contrary to expectations, however, the present data failed suggest a significant relationship between intrinsic motivations and uncivil political talk.

Author

• Tobias M Hopp, U of Colorado Boulder