"Leave Your Comment Below": Can Biased Online Comments Influence Our Own Prejudicial Attitudes and Behaviors?

Increased use of online communication in everyday life presents a growing need to understand how people are influenced by others in such settings. In this study, online comments established social norms that directly influenced readers' expressions of prejudice both consciously and unconsciousl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human communication research 2015-10, Vol.41 (4), p.557-576
Main Authors: Hsueh, Mark, Yogeeswaran, Kumar, Malinen, Sanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communication
Computer-Mediated Communication
Explicit Prejudice
Implicit Prejudice
Information
Online Comments
Prejudice
Social change
Social Norms
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Summary:Increased use of online communication in everyday life presents a growing need to understand how people are influenced by others in such settings. In this study, online comments established social norms that directly influenced readers' expressions of prejudice both consciously and unconsciously. Participants read an online article and were then exposed to antiprejudiced or prejudiced comments allegedly posted by other users. Results revealed that exposure to prejudiced (relative to antiprejudiced) comments influenced respondents to post more prejudiced comments themselves. In addition, these effects generalized to participants' unconscious and conscious attitudes toward the target group once offline. These findings suggest that simple exposure to social information can impact our attitudes and behavior, suggesting potential avenues for social change in online environments.
ISSN:0360-3989
1468-2958
DOI:10.1111/hcre.12059