How Partisan Online Environments Shape Communication with Political Outgroups

Authors

  • Yotam Shmargad University of Arizona
  • Samara Klar University of Arizona

Keywords:

social media, political communication, echo chambers, partisanship

Abstract

Social media provide opportunities to consume and share political news in echo chambers, but also to communicate with members of political outgroups. Exposure to political outgroups is often portrayed as the normatively desirable option, although empirically it has mixed effects. With an experimental study, we find that participants who regularly interact with political outgroups on social media share more politically moderate news articles when we assign them to an audience of mostly outgroup versus ingroup members. On the other hand, those who are accustomed to an online echo chamber subsequently polarize when faced with an outgroup audience. Our study holds implications for how a person’s online social setting can shape downstream political interactions, and, more broadly, our findings highlight the importance of incorporating pretreatment measures to understand how online environments influence political behavior.

Author Biographies

Yotam Shmargad, University of Arizona

Yotam Shmargad is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Arizona School of Government and Public Policy. He can be reached at 408-909-6826 or yotam@email.arizona.edu.

Samara Klar, University of Arizona

Samara Klar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Arizona School of Government and Public Policy. She can be reached at 262-372-6726 or klar@email.arizona.edu.

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Published

2019-05-14

Issue

Vol. 13 (2019)

Section

Articles

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