{"title":"Persuasion in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Theories and Complications of AI-Based Persuasion","authors":"Marco Dehnert, Paul A. Mongeau","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqac006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqac006","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial intelligence (AI) has profound implications for both communication and persuasion. We consider how AI complicates and promotes rethinking of persuasion theory and research. We define AI-based persuasion as a symbolic process in which a communicative-AI entity generates, augments, or modifies a message—designed to convince people to shape, reinforce, or change their responses—that is transmitted to human receivers. We review theoretical perspectives useful for studying AI-based persuasion—the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm, the Modality, Agency, Interactivity, and Navigability (MAIN) model, and the heuristic-systematic model of persuasion—to explicate how differences in AI complicate persuasion in two ways. First, thin AI exhibits few (if any) machinic (i.e., AI) cues, social cues might be available, and communication is limited and indirect. Second, thick AI exhibits ample machinic and social cues, AI presence is obvious, and communication is direct and interactive. We suggest avenues for future research in each case.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47951830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does Information about Bias Attenuate Selective Exposure? The Effects of Implicit Bias Feedback on the Selection of Outgroup-Rich News","authors":"A. Kroon, T. G. van der Meer, T. Pronk","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqac004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqac004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 People’s news diets are shaped by a diverse set of selection biases that may be unconscious in nature. This study investigates whether providing individuals with information about such unconscious biases attenuates selective exposure. More specifically, in two selective-exposure experiments among Dutch ingroup members focusing on ethnic (N = 286) and religious (N = 277) minorities, we expose individuals to their unconscious prejudices as measured by the Implicit Association Test (IAT) before documenting their news-selection patterns. Findings indicate that the effectiveness of this awareness-inducing strategy depends upon existing levels of implicit and explicit prejudice and overly expressed acceptance of the IAT scores. This implies that raising awareness of implicit prejudice works as an effective strategy for fighting biased news selection for some, but may backfire for others, and should therefore only be implemented with caution and attention for explicit considerations.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41316999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interpersonal Discussion and Political Knowledge: Unpacking the Black Box via a Combined Experimental and Content-Analytic Approach","authors":"Ryan C. Moore, Jason C. Coronel","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqac002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqac002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Over 130 studies have examined the relationship between interpersonal political discussion and political knowledge, generally finding that discussion can increase people’s level of political knowledge (Amsalem & Nir, 2019). However, two important questions remain unanswered: (a) Do some types of political discussions facilitate greater levels of political knowledge than others? (b) Do people retain knowledge gained from political discussions? In this study (N = 96), we addressed these questions using a novel methodological approach that combines a lab experiment, in which we manipulated the occurrence of political discussion, with a systematic content analysis of participants’ discussions (N = 1,080 distinct instances of discussions). We found that discussions involving confirmatory feedback and cueing were associated with greater levels of political knowledge than other types of discussions. Furthermore, knowledge gains from discussion were not retained after a short delay. Our study lays the theoretical and methodological groundwork for future investigations into the “black box” of political discussion.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45668661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Better Ask Your Neighbor: Renegotiating Media Trust During the Russian–Ukrainian Conflict","authors":"Olga Pasitselska","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqac003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqac003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 During violent conflict, the evaluation of information sources often presents a complex challenge. Social interactions play a critical role for mediating audiences’ trust as they negotiate contested information spreading across the media and social networks. This study uses focus groups and individual interviews, conducted in the propaganda-saturated environment of the Russian–Ukrainian conflict, to investigate how audiences develop and negotiate practices for assigning trust to the mediated and social sources. It identifies three verification practices, each based on a different notion of pragmatic trust: Reliance on ideologically close sources; skepticism toward individual sources while trusting media as institution; or institutional distrust and cynical disillusionment. Each practice is embedded in participants’ social environment, which both supplies information and helps negotiating appropriate verification practices. The article concludes by discussing implications for studies of media trust and socially shaped understanding of the media.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48723950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“They Never Really Leave Us”: Transcendent Narratives About Loss Resonate With the Experience of Severe Grief","authors":"E. Das, Judith Peters","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqac001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqac001","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Self-transcendent media experiences can instill a sense of connectedness, the sense of being part of a bigger whole. Proposing that this experience is relevant for people who have lost a loved one, the present research examined processing and effects of transcendent narratives of loss among the bereaved. Study 1 (N = 1,012) examined if personal experience with loss (grief severity, loss acceptance) increased mixed affect, transportation, identification, and appreciation of narratives of loss with, and without a reference to transcendence; Study 2 (N = 240) examined effects on elevation and connectedness. Findings showed that transcendent narratives of loss increased transportation, identification, and story appreciation especially for individuals with severe grief. Conversely, transcendent narratives of loss increased elevation, and connectedness especially for individuals with low grief. Findings suggest that transcendent narratives of loss resonate with severe personal grief. We found no evidence that a transcendent perspective on death reflects difficulty in accepting one’s personal loss.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48858870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Resilience in Interracial–Interethnic Relationships in the United States: Assessing Relationship Maintenance and Communal Orientation as Protection Against Network Stigma","authors":"C. Haughton, T. Afifi","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqab023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqab023","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Using the theory of resilience and relational load as a framework, this study examined whether a stress reduction or a stress-buffering model best explained risk and resilience in interracial–interethnic relationships in the United States when managing stigma from one’s social network. Eight hundred and sixteen Black and Latinx individuals in heterosexual relationships with a White, non-Latinx partner completed the survey. The stress reduction model was a better representation of individuals’ experiences in Latinx–White relationships and the stress-buffering model was a better representation of individuals’ experiences in Black–White relationships. For Latinx individuals, greater relationship maintenance received from one’s White partner and stronger levels of communal orientation were associated with reductions in stigma-related stress and conflict, which in turn, were associated with better relationship satisfaction and less relational load. For Black individuals, relationship maintenance and communal orientation moderated the associations between stress/conflict and the relational outcomes, but in unexpected ways.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43960695","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Effects of Political Incivility on Political Trust and Political Participation: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Research","authors":"Jonathan Van ’t Riet, Aart van Stekelenburg","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqab022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqab022","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 A great deal of experimental research has focused on how political incivility affects ordinary citizens. A common finding is that incivility reduces political trust. Effects on political participation have also been investigated, but seem less consistent across studies. The results of a systematic review and meta-analysis, including a total of 24 manuscripts containing 35 studies, revealed that the estimated effect of political incivility on political trust was significant, Hedges’ g = −0.19 [95% CI: −0.30, −0.09]. The effect was small, however, and some indication of publication bias was found. The effect was stronger when the incivility was communicated through video versus other media, and for studies conducted in the United States versus Europe. The estimated effect of political incivility on political participation was almost non-existent, g = −0.02 [−0.11, 0.08], although it was significantly stronger (more negative) for studies conducted in Europe rather than in the United States.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45778018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Communication Interdependence and Cohabitation: The Role of Interpersonal Technologies in Satisfaction and Disillusionment among Couples in Transition","authors":"L. Sharabi, Elizabeth Dorrance-Hall","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqab021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqab021","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The transition to cohabitation is a major developmental milestone for romantic couples, yet it is linked to myriad negative outcomes. This study extends the communication interdependence perspective (CIP) to understand the role of technology use in relationship transitions (i.e., the transition to cohabitation). Couples (N = 258 individuals) completed an online survey before and after transitioning to cohabitation to test actor and partner effects of technology integration, segmentation, and difficulty transitioning on relationship satisfaction and ambivalence. Results showed that for actors, constructive integration had positive associations and destructive integration had negative associations with relational outcomes. Difficulty transitioning between channels of communication also had negative implications for relationships. Longitudinal results indicated that negative integration patterns could sometimes buffer against relationship disillusionment. Theoretical implications for the CIP and practical implications for couples are discussed.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47786174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Robin Stryker, Bethany A. Conway, Shawn Bauldry, Vasundhara Kaul
{"title":"Replication Note: What is Political Incivility?","authors":"Robin Stryker, Bethany A. Conway, Shawn Bauldry, Vasundhara Kaul","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqab017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqab017","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Because political incivility is so consequential and those consequences depend on observers’ perceptions, we must know what Americans perceive as uncivil. Stryker, Conway, and Danielson (2016) conducted one of the first studies addressing this using confirmatory factor analysis on 23 types of potential incivility, but the authors used a local sample representing undergraduates at one southwestern university. Using 20 of their 23 measures and replicating their analyses on a national sample of more than 2000 respondents representing U.S. whites, Blacks, and Latinx, this study finds the same conceptual structure for perceived political incivility with very similar response patterns as Stryker et al. (2016). Perceived political incivility is an overarching construct with three analytically distinct, inter-correlated dimensions: insulting utterances, deception, and behaviors that tend to shut down ongoing and inclusive discussion.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43349552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jonathan Bright, Nahema Marchal, B. Ganesh, S. Rudinac
{"title":"How Do Individuals in a Radical Echo Chamber React to Opposing Views? Evidence from a Content Analysis of Stormfront","authors":"Jonathan Bright, Nahema Marchal, B. Ganesh, S. Rudinac","doi":"10.1093/hcr/hqab020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqab020","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Calls to “break up” radical echo chambers by injecting them with alternative viewpoints are common. Yet, thus far there is little evidence about the impact of such counter-messaging. To what extent and how do individuals who inhabit a radical echo chamber engage with messages that challenge their core beliefs? Drawing on data from the radical right forum Stormfront we address this question with a large-scale content and longitudinal analysis of users’ posting behavior, which analyses more than 35,000 English language contributions to the forum spanning 2011 through 2013. Our findings show that engaging with oppositional views is actually a core practice among Stromfront users which invites active participation and encourages engagement. Indeed, many “echoes” in the echo chamber we studied were not core beliefs being restated, but the sound of opposing viewpoints being undermined and marginalized. These findings underscore the limited potential for counter-messages to undermine radical echo chambers.","PeriodicalId":51377,"journal":{"name":"Human Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.0,"publicationDate":"2021-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48173132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}