Original
Incivility Does Not Exist: An Experimental Assessment on the Drivers of Incivility Perceptions and Their Effects on Candidate Evaluations
Abstract
Building upon the definition of incivility as norm-violating conduct, this Stage-2 Registered Report argues that incivility does not exist per se as an objective reality but only as a subjective and context-dependent perception. We leverage data from a conjoint survey experiment (United States; N=1,884), manipulating the characteristics of an “uncivil” attack—who went uncivil, how, and when—to test how a range of contextual factors and individual dispositions shape incivility perceptions. Our results reveal that an uncivil attack is perceived as more uncivil (i) when it is uttered by candidates described as more aggressive and (ii) when its surrounding electoral context is characterized by widespread incivility. Additionally, lower perceptions of incivility were associated with authoritarian tendencies, populist beliefs, feelings of social marginalization, and a “darker” personality profile. Finally, we demonstrate that whether candidates are punished for “going uncivil” partially depends on how this incivility is perceived.
中文
不文明并不存在：对不文明感知驱动因素及其对候选人评价影响的实验评估
摘要
基于将不文明界定为违反规范的行为这一定义，本第二阶段注册报告认为，不文明本身并不作为一种客观现实而存在，而只是一种主观且依赖情境的感知。我们利用一项联合调查实验的数据（美国；N=1,884），操纵一次“不文明”攻击的特征——谁实施了不文明行为、以何种方式以及何时实施——以检验一系列情境因素和个体倾向如何塑造不文明感知。我们的结果表明，一次不文明攻击在以下情况下会被感知为更不文明：(i) 当其出自被描述为更具攻击性的候选人之口时；(ii) 当其周围的选举情境以普遍的不文明为特征时。此外，较低的不文明感知与威权倾向、民粹主义信念、社会边缘化感受以及一种“更黑暗”的人格特征相关。最后，我们证明，候选人是否会因“采取不文明行为”而受到惩罚，部分取决于这种不文明如何被感知。
关键词
不文明、政治不文明、候选人评价、联合实验、政治感知、规范违反、选举情境、人格特质