What Information Drives Political Polarization? Comparing the Effects of In-group Praise, Out-group Derogation, and Evidence-based Communications on Polarization

Author:

Wojcieszak Magdalena12ORCID,Sobkowicz Paweł3,Yu Xudong1,Bulat Beril1

Affiliation:

1. Department of Communication, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

2. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

3. NOMATEN MAB, National Centre for Nuclear Research, Otwock, Poland

Abstract

This project differentiates between communication that praises one's political in-group ( in-group praise), attacks the opposition ( out-group derogation), or focuses on policy details ( evidence based), testing their effects on network and attitude polarization. We begin with an agent-based model, which shows that congenial evidence-based exchanges polarize the network and the inclusion of identity-driven communications leads to greater polarization. Once out-group derogation reaches a certain threshold, the network of agents splits into two groups, yet the polarizing effects of in-group praise are yet stronger and emerge more rapidly (i.e., a lower threshold of in-group praise is needed to polarize the network). Using an experimental design on a sample of American partisans, we offer a partial validation of the model. In-group praise and out-group derogation polarize attitudes more than balanced evidence-based news, but not more than congenial evidence-based news. Identity-driven news also has no effects on affective polarization. This multidisciplinary evidence shows that the nature of political content matters.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Sociology and Political Science,Communication

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