Mungall Luke Ryan, Pruysers Scott, Blais Julie
Dalhousie University, Canada.
Soc Sci Comput Rev. 2025 Feb;43(1):3-26. doi: 10.1177/08944393241249725. Epub 2024 Apr 30.
Many forms of online political incivility threaten democratic norms, contribute to polarization, and are often directed at women and racial minorities. Recent research shows that online political incivility may come from a minority of users that are just as hostile offline as they are online, meaning that individual differences in personality traits may be an important predictor of online political incivility. Drawing upon a large sample of adults living in Canada = 1725), we examined the association between personality traits and online political incivility using robust measures of psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and the general traits of the HEXACO. While controlling for a variety of sociodemographic and political variables, we found that people who score higher in honesty-humility, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, as well as the planfulness facet of Machiavellianism, are less likely to report engagement in online political incivility. People who score higher in extraversion, several facets of psychopathy, grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and antagonistic Machiavellianism, by contrast, are more likely to report engagement in online political incivility. In general, the personality traits that predict offline aggression and antisocial behaviour tend to be the same traits that predict self-reports of vulgarity, stereotyping, and threats in online political discussions. Interventions to reduce online incivility may benefit from considering the dispositional tendencies of uncivil users.
许多形式的网络政治不文明行为威胁着民主规范，加剧了两极分化，并且常常针对女性和少数族裔。最近的研究表明，网络政治不文明行为可能来自少数用户，他们在现实生活中和在网络上一样充满敌意，这意味着人格特质的个体差异可能是网络政治不文明行为的一个重要预测指标。基于对大量居住在加拿大的成年人（N = 1725）的样本，我们使用了对精神病态、自恋、马基雅维利主义以及HEXACO人格模型的一般特质的稳健测量方法，来研究人格特质与网络政治不文明行为之间的关联。在控制了各种社会人口统计学和政治变量后，我们发现，在诚实谦逊、宜人性和尽责性方面得分较高的人，以及马基雅维利主义的计划性维度得分较高的人，报告参与网络政治不文明行为的可能性较小。相比之下，在外向性、精神病态的几个维度、夸大性和脆弱性自恋以及对抗性马基雅维利主义方面得分较高的人，更有可能报告参与网络政治不文明行为。总体而言，预测线下攻击和反社会行为的人格特质往往也是预测网络政治讨论中粗俗、刻板印象和威胁的自我报告的特质。减少网络不文明行为的干预措施可能会受益于考虑不文明用户的性格倾向。
