Academic Journal

Navigating Political Disagreement on Social Media: How Affective Responses and Belonging Influence Unfollowing and Unfriending

التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
العنوان: Navigating Political Disagreement on Social Media: How Affective Responses and Belonging Influence Unfollowing and Unfriending
المؤلفون: Bingbing Zhang, Heather Shoenberger
المصدر: Media and Communication, Vol 12, Iss 0 (2024)
بيانات النشر: Cogitatio, 2024.
سنة النشر: 2024
المجموعة: LCC:Communication. Mass media
مصطلحات موضوعية: affective responses, anger, anxiety, disconnectivity, need to belong, political disagreement, social media, unfollowing, unfriending, Communication. Mass media, P87-96
الوصف: While recent research has demonstrated how exposure to cross-cutting political opinions intensifies politically motivated disconnectivity on social media, there has been a notable gap in examining the influence of emotions and psychological traits in this process. Guided by the theories of selective avoidance and affective intelligence, our study employed a survey through Qualtrics panel drawn from a population-matching sample (N = 498) of the US population to investigate how perceived political disagreement on social media affects decisions to unfollow and unfriend others through the induction of affective responses (e.g., anger, anxiety) and the role of psychological trait—need to belong. Controlling for demographics and political ideology, our mediation analysis revealed that perceived political disagreement was significantly related to anger, which was further positively associated with both unfollowing and unfriending on social media. Perceived political disagreement was also related to anxiety while anxiety was positively associated with individuals’ behaviors of unfollowing and unfriending. Furthermore, results showed that the need to belong played a significant role in moderating the relationship between perceived political disagreement and unfriending. When perceiving the same level of political disagreement, individuals with a higher need to belong were less likely to unfriend others on social media, compared to those with a lower need to belong. However, the need to belong did not exert a significant impact on how perceived political disagreement influenced unfollowing behavior. This study contributes to understanding the nuanced dynamics of disconnectivity on social media, particularly in navigating political disagreements.
نوع الوثيقة: article
وصف الملف: electronic resource
اللغة: English
تدمد: 2183-2439
Relation: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/8483; https://doaj.org/toc/2183-2439
DOI: 10.17645/mac.8483
URL الوصول: https://doaj.org/article/1a390b02e13541279906a2273ad4e58d
رقم الانضمام: edsdoj.1a390b02e13541279906a2273ad4e58d
قاعدة البيانات: Directory of Open Access Journals
الوصف
تدمد:21832439
DOI:10.17645/mac.8483