The effects of social feedback on private opinions. Empirical evidence from the laboratory
The question of how people change their opinions through social interactions has been on the agenda of social scientific research for many decades. Now that the Internet has led to an ever greater interconnectedness and new forms of exchange that seem to go hand in hand with increasing political pol...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9534395/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1811226259167903744 |
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| author | Marcel Sarközi Stephanie Jütersonke Sven Banisch Stephan Poppe Roger Berger |
| author_facet | Marcel Sarközi Stephanie Jütersonke Sven Banisch Stephan Poppe Roger Berger |
| author_sort | Marcel Sarközi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The question of how people change their opinions through social interactions has been on the agenda of social scientific research for many decades. Now that the Internet has led to an ever greater interconnectedness and new forms of exchange that seem to go hand in hand with increasing political polarization, it is once again gaining in relevance. Most recently, the field of opinion dynamics has been complemented by social feedback theory, which explains opinion polarization phenomena by means of a reinforcement learning mechanism. According to the assumptions, individuals not only evaluate the opinion alternatives available to them based on the social feedback received as a result of expressing an opinion within a certain social environment. Rather, they also internalize the expected and thus rewarded opinion to the point where it becomes their actual private opinion. In order to put the implications of social feedback theory to a test, we conducted a randomized controlled laboratory experiment. The study combined preceding and follow-up opinion measurements via online surveys with a laboratory treatment. Social feedback was found to have longer-term effects on private opinions, even when received in an anonymous and sanction free setting. Interestingly and contrary to our expectations, however, it was the mixture of supportive and rejective social feedback that resulted in the strongest influence. In addition, we observed a high degree of opinion volatility, highlighting the need for further research to help identify additional internal and external factors that might influence whether and how social feedback affects private opinions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T09:22:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f222f7831857423c9a4fa6a32cb34501 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T09:22:05Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-f222f7831857423c9a4fa6a32cb345012022-12-22T03:38:36ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-011710The effects of social feedback on private opinions. Empirical evidence from the laboratoryMarcel SarköziStephanie JütersonkeSven BanischStephan PoppeRoger BergerThe question of how people change their opinions through social interactions has been on the agenda of social scientific research for many decades. Now that the Internet has led to an ever greater interconnectedness and new forms of exchange that seem to go hand in hand with increasing political polarization, it is once again gaining in relevance. Most recently, the field of opinion dynamics has been complemented by social feedback theory, which explains opinion polarization phenomena by means of a reinforcement learning mechanism. According to the assumptions, individuals not only evaluate the opinion alternatives available to them based on the social feedback received as a result of expressing an opinion within a certain social environment. Rather, they also internalize the expected and thus rewarded opinion to the point where it becomes their actual private opinion. In order to put the implications of social feedback theory to a test, we conducted a randomized controlled laboratory experiment. The study combined preceding and follow-up opinion measurements via online surveys with a laboratory treatment. Social feedback was found to have longer-term effects on private opinions, even when received in an anonymous and sanction free setting. Interestingly and contrary to our expectations, however, it was the mixture of supportive and rejective social feedback that resulted in the strongest influence. In addition, we observed a high degree of opinion volatility, highlighting the need for further research to help identify additional internal and external factors that might influence whether and how social feedback affects private opinions.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9534395/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Marcel Sarközi Stephanie Jütersonke Sven Banisch Stephan Poppe Roger Berger The effects of social feedback on private opinions. Empirical evidence from the laboratory PLoS ONE |
| title | The effects of social feedback on private opinions. Empirical evidence from the laboratory |
| title_full | The effects of social feedback on private opinions. Empirical evidence from the laboratory |
| title_fullStr | The effects of social feedback on private opinions. Empirical evidence from the laboratory |
| title_full_unstemmed | The effects of social feedback on private opinions. Empirical evidence from the laboratory |
| title_short | The effects of social feedback on private opinions. Empirical evidence from the laboratory |
| title_sort | effects of social feedback on private opinions empirical evidence from the laboratory |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9534395/?tool=EBI |
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