09:30 - 11:10
P11-S270
Room: -1.A.02
Chair/s:
Bernd Beber
Discussant/s:
Lauren Young
Can Social Networks Counter Support for Political Violence? Evidence from a Network Dyad Experiment
P11-S270-3
Presented by: Carly Wayne
Carly Wayne 1, Taylor Carlson 1, Erin Rossiter 2
1 Washington University in St. Louis
2 University of Notre Dame
Support for — and acts of — political violence are increasing in the United States and around the world. Critically, not only are acts of violence increasing, but the broader public's willingness to support violence is increasing, as well, with partisans of both parties similarly likely to endorse support for violent acts. In this study, we seek to understand the effect interpersonal communications within social networks have on moderating dangerous beliefs in the network, in particular, moderating support for political violence. To examine this question, we field a complex and unique survey experiment involving hundreds of real network dyads who disagree on their support for political violence, randomizing whether the dyad has a conversation with each other about political violence or not, and then observing potential changes in support for political violence among the dyad members. We find that these conversations can be persuasive, however, they are most persuasive for moderates - making those who previously eschewed political violence potentially more sympathetic towards it use, while having limits effects among violence supports. These results highlight the potential risks of of trying to leverage real world social networks to persuade people away from extremist beliefs.
Keywords: political violence, public opinion, interpersonal communication, experiment

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