title: The mainstreaming of verbally aggressive online political behaviors.
abstract: The purpose of this paper was to investigate the relationship between verbal aggression and uncivil media attention on political flaming. More specifically, this paper examines whether the use of uncivil media programming is associated with the perceived acceptability and intention to engage in aggressive online discussions (i.e., online political flaming) and whether this relationship varies by verbal aggression. The results show that individuals less inclined to engage in aggressive communication tactics (i.e., low in verbal aggression) become more accepting of flaming and show greater intention to flame as their attention to uncivil media increases. By contrast, those with comparatively higher levels of verbal aggression show a decrease in acceptance and intention to flame as their attention to these same media increases.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Advertising, University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cicchirillo
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hmielowski
authors.forename: Myiah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hutchens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D057218:Blogging; D058445:Bullying; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012919:Social Behavior; D012933:Social Identification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014705:Verbal Behavior