Copyright by Ashley Rae Muddiman 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Ashley Rae Muddiman Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: The Instability of Incivility: How News Frames and Citizen Perceptions Shape Conflict in American Politics Committee: Natalie J. Stroud, Supervisor Roderick P. Hart Maxwell McCombs Regina Lawrence Sharon J. Hardesty The Instability of Incivility: How News Frames and Citizen Perceptions Shape Conflict in American Politics by Ashley Rae Muddiman, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2013 Acknowledgments I could not have completed this dissertation without an extensive support network. First and foremost, this project would not have been possible without the guidance, support, and friendship of my advisor, Dr. Natalie (Talia) Jomini Stroud. I have learned so much from helping her both in research projects and in the classroom. She has pushed me both to create detailed research designs and to think about the big picture importance of research findings. I could not have asked for a fiercer advocate or for a better mentor. I am a stronger researcher, teacher, and person because I have been fortunate enough to work with Talia. I would also like to thank the members of my dissertation committee. I have had a second exemplary mentor in Dr. Sharon Jarvis Hardesty. Her enthusiasm for research and teaching is infectious, and brainstorming sessions with her are exhilarating. Dr. Maxwell McCombs always has sharp suggestions for strengthening the normative aspects of my research and has been wonderful to work with on outside projects as well. Dr. Regina Lawrence has been a wonderful addition to the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, and consistently pushes me to think about how journalists may react to my findings. Dean Roderick Hart and his stimulating questions challenge me to think in bigger, different, and more interesting ways. Through their thought-provoking questions and valuable suggestions, my committee members have made my project better. The research process also received assistance from multiple avenues. Thank you to the Strauss Institute for granting me a Patricia Witherspoon Research Award to help fund my content analysis and experiments. I appreciate the hours Kayla Rhidenour and Robert McDonald spent coding news texts, news photos, and iv participants’ open-ended responses. The work is tedious, but necessary, and they both deserve all of my thanks for their help. I also had the pleasure of finishing my dissertation in the best writing retreat in Austin. Thank you Drs. Talia and Scott Stroud for sharing your home with me. Your support, company, and friendship helped me find the energy to finish the project. And making friends with Radha was icing on the cake. Finally, I want to thank my family and friends for all of the support they have given me throughout my time in graduate school. Thank you for helping me make time to relax and for encouraging me to stop working long enough to have fun. Mom, Dad, Grandma, Zach, Alex, Zane, Abbie, Robert, Kate, Vysali, Matt, Josh, and Kevin, I couldn’t have made it through this process without you. v The Instability of Incivility: How News Frames and Citizen Perceptions Shape Conflict in American Politics Ashley Rae Muddiman, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Natalie Jomini Stroud Politicians and media elites have been calling for a return to civility in United States politics, and the vast majority of citizens agree that civility is necessary for a strong democracy. Yet incivility is an ever-present and misunderstood part of politics. In my dissertation, I focus on news, politics, and incivility by asking three questions. First, to what extent does news coverage portray political conflict as uncivil? Second, what political behaviors do citizens perceive as uncivil? Finally, how does news that portrays politics as uncivil affect citizens? I used a mixed method approach to answer these questions. I, first, conducted a content analysis of news surrounding four high-conflict political events to determine whether two conflict frames (interpersonal-level and public-level conflict) emerged. Second, I conducted two experiments and drew from social judgment theory to determine whether citizens perceived multiple types of incivility and whether their partisanship influenced how acceptable they found political behaviors to be. In a final experiment, I tested whether exposure to mediated conflict frames prompted perceptions of incivility from citizens and affected their reactions to politics. vi This project makes clear that news coverage of conflict emphasizes incivility and negatively affects citizens. Media elites shape political conflict using interpersonal-level and public-level conflict frames. Citizens perceive both types of conflict, as well, and tend to think that likeminded partisans are behaving appropriately while counter-attitudinal partisans are behaving badly. Finally, and importantly, the coverage of political conflict affects citizens in troublesome ways. Particularly when both types of conflict frames are present in the news, citizens feel more anxiety and aversion, have decreased levels of favorability toward political institutions, and think of political arguments in partisan ways. Overall, I conclude that incivility is not stable. Instead, incivility is a two- dimensional concept that is shaped by the media, perceived by citizens, and advanced by partisans. By recognizing these dimensions of incivility, researchers may find new and important effects of incivility, and people interested in ridding politics of incivility may be more successful by beginning with the recognition that what is uncivil to one person is not always uncivil to another. vii Table of Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................................... x List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................................ xi Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 What is Political Incivility? .......................................................................................................................... 3 Political Incivility and U.S. History ........................................................................................................... 4 Political Incivility and Citizens .................................................................................................................. 7 Political Incivility and Elite Discourse .................................................................................................... 8 Overview of Dissertation ........................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1: The Many Definitions of Incivility, A Literature Review ............................................ 13 Incivility: A Shifting Concept ................................................................................................................... 14 Theoretical Backing for Incivility Research ...................................................................................... 20 Research Questions and Hypotheses ................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 2: Methodology .................................................................................................................................. 57 Media Coverage of Conflict: A Content Analysis ............................................................................. 57 Judging Political Behaviors: Experiment 1 ........................................................................................ 69 Incivility in Partisan News: Experiment 2 ......................................................................................... 77 Incivility and Immigration Reform: Experiment 3 ......................................................................... 80 Chapter 3: Shaping Incivility in the News ............................................................................................... 86 Frames of Political Conflict ....................................................................................................................... 86 Frame Building and Political Conflict .................................................................................................. 96 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................................... 121 Chapter 4: Incivility from a Citizen Perspective ................................................................................ 132 Experiment 1: Judging Political Behaviors ..................................................................................... 133 viii Experiment 2: Incivility and Partisan News .................................................................................. 163 Discussion ....................................................................................................................................................