Online Social Regulation: When Everyday Diplomatic Skills for Harmonious Disagreement Break Down

Carla A. Roos*, Namkje Koudenburg, Tom Postmes

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)
154 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In group discussions, people rely on everyday diplomatic skills to socially regulate the interaction, maintain harmony, and avoid escalation. This article compares social regulation in online and face-to-face (FtF) groups. It studies the micro-dynamics of online social interactions in response to disagreements. Thirty-two triads discussed, in a repeated measures design, controversial topics via text-based online chat and FtF. The fourth group member was a confederate who voiced a deviant (right-wing) opinion. Results show that online interactions were less responsive and less ambiguous compared with FtF discussions. This affected participants’ social attributions: they felt their interaction partners ignored them and displayed disinhibited behavior. This also had relational consequences: participants experienced polarization and less solidarity. These results offer a new perspective on the process of online polarization: this might not be due to changes in individual psychology (e.g., disinhibition), but to misattributions of online behavior.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)382-401
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Volume25
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov-2020

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