Beyond the algorithm, online negativity takes on a life of its own as users try to stand out
It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that social media can trend toward the negative. But it might take one to figure out why. In a new paper in PNAS, professor of psychology Joshua Conrad Jackson and colleagues show that algorithms aren't the only driver of online negativity. Another culprit is what psychologists call differentiation, the innate drive to stand out from one's peers.
New research reveals that online negativity takes on a life of its own, driven by more than just algorithms. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that semantic differentiation, or the innate drive to stand out from peers, plays a significant role in the increasing negativity of social media discussions.
The study analyzed over 2 billion comments from 2,150 Reddit communities and discovered that both communities and threads became more negative over time. Researchers found that negative comments were more semantically unique from what had already been said, leading to a vicious cycle where users posted more negative comments to stand out.
The findings suggest that differentiation is not merely a conscious choice but an indirect route to negativity, even in the absence of algorithms that prioritize divisive content. The research has implications for other forms of media, such as cable news channels with a 24-hour news cycle, where the risk of negative discourse is higher due to the limited novelty of topics.
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