The Nature of Online Talk: Incivility of Opposing Views and Affective Polarization

Affective polarization is on the rise. Increasing polarization is often attributed to the nature of political discussion on social media platforms, but little is known about the affective consequences of the incivility of online discussion. This study adopts a trust game to consider whether people punish the incivility of both out-partisans and co-partisans and whether there are gender-related differences in punishment. It also examines whether incivility can have spillover effects on broader out-party hostility. Five pre-registered hypotheses are tested using a pair of survey experiments fielded to a sample (N = 974) of adult Canadian partisans. We find that participants punish the incivility of co-partisans but not out-partisans. However, incivility may spill over and heighten hostility towards out-parties more generally. Finally, we do not find evidence that women are more likely to be punished for incivility. Our findings highlight significant nuance with respect to the effects of incivility on trust and affective polarization, as well as the expectations of civility people hold for individuals online.