Reactance to Uncivil Disagreement? The Integral Effects of Disagreement, Incivility, and Social Endorsement

This study extends the psychological reactance theory by demonstrating that online political discussions, without explicit social influence attempts, can arouse psychological reactance by certain message features. Based on a 2 (stance: agreement vs. disagreement) x 2 (tone: civil vs. uncivil) x 2 (social endorsement: low vs. high) between-subjects online experiment in the United States (N = 418), the present study found that both disagreement and uncivil comments led to psychological reactance directly and indirectly via perceived threat to freedom. Unexpectedly, uncivil disagreement had smaller effects on psychological reactance than civil disagreement. In addition, although social endorsement cues did not show any independent effects on psychological reactance, they were found to exacerbate the direct effect of uncivil disagreement on psychological reactance. Overall, our study develops important theoretical connections between political deliberation and psychological reactance literatures. It also yields practical implications for fostering an inclusive and healthy environment for online political discussion.