Abstract 

Most studies of online incivility report negative effects on attitudes and behaviors of both the victims and the audiences who are exposed to it. But while we have extensive insights about the attitudinal and behavioral consequences of incivility, less emphasis has been paid on its emotional effects. We conduct a series of survey experiments using statements posted on Twitter by elite actors along with the comments they receive and measure the emotional reactions of the public in relation to the content of the original post. We find that when the raw information is accompanied by uncivil commentary (compared to civil or no commentary), respondents express higher levels of positive and lower levels of negative emotions. Further analysis of heterogeneous effects focusing on partisanship shows that the effects are primarily driven by those who are generally expected to agree with the expert’s claim. The broader consequences of incivility as entertainment on social media platforms are discussed.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体的不活跃行为是否可以激发热情？调查实验的证据

摘要 

大多数关于网络不文明行为的研究都报告说，这对受害人和接触该行为的听众的态度和行为均具有负面影响。但是，尽管我们对不文明行为的态度和行为后果有广泛见解，但对其情感影响的关注却较少。我们使用精英演员在Twitter上发布的声明以及他们收到的评论进行一系列调查实验，并评估公众对原始帖子内容的情感反应。我们发现，当原始信息伴随着不文明的评论（相对于不公开的评论）时，受访者会表现出较高的积极情绪水平和较低的消极情绪水平。对以党派关系为代表的异质影响的进一步分析表明，这种影响主要是由通常被期望与专家的主张一致的人所驱动。讨论了在社交媒体平台上作为娱乐活动的不文明行为的更广泛后果。