Citation

Bilewicz M, Tempska P, Leliwa G, Dowgiałło M, Tańska M, Urbaniak R, Wroczyński M. Aggressive Behav. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, International Society for Research on Aggression, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/ab.21948

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article presents a quasi-experimental intervention study designed to reduce the level of verbal aggression on a social networking service (Reddit). The interventions were based on three psychological mechanisms: induction of a descriptive norm, induction of a prescriptive norm, and empathy induction. Each intervention was generated using a communicating bot. Participants exposed to these interventions were compared with a control group that received no intervention. The bot-generated normative communications (both the ones priming descriptive and the ones priming prescriptive norms), as well as the empathizing intervention, reduced the proportion of verbal aggression posted by Reddit accounts. All three interventions proved effective in reducing verbal violence when compared with the control condition.

Language: en

Keywords

social media; empathy; artificial intelligence; hate speech; verbal aggression