Why do people become toxic online? A systematic exploration of motivators of toxic online communication

This dissertation examines the motivating factors behind a prevalent toxic behavior in online communities: counter-normative expression. Focusing on four motivators—attitude, financial incentive, social identity, and dark personality traits—and on how they induce people to express counter-normative opinions in cyberspaces, this project includes three empirical studies: Chapter 3 reveals that counter-normative expression can be motivated by attitude toward the topic of discussion and dark personality traits, Chapter 4 reveals a strong effect of financial incentive, and Chapter 5 reveals an interesting interaction between social identity and dark personality traits. The findings also show that counter-normative expression is a complex behavior influenced by several factors (e.g., personality traits), many of which have been underscored in communication research. Rather than investigating the simple associations between personality traits and communicative behaviors, I examined how the interplay between dark personality traits and other individual factors influence counter-normative behaviors. The findings show that, in certain contexts, counter-normative expression can be considered a toxic behavior and is not limited to individuals with dark personality traits. The findings of this study contribute a better understanding of the motivators behind counter-normative expression and emphasize the need for further investigation into the complex nature of online behavior.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communications and Media

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Lee, Seo Yoon

Contributors dc:contributor

• Yao, Mike
• Vargas, Patrick
• Briley, D.A
• Oh, Sang-Hwa
• Su, Leona Yi-Fan

• Counter-normative Opinion Expression
• Toxic Online Communication
• Dark Personalities
• Attitude
• Financial Incentives
• Social Identity

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Seo Yoon Lee

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121326

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F121326