Cleveland State University EngagedScholarship@CSU ETD Archive 2017 Intentions and Behaviors: Testing Spiral of Silence in a Social Media Context Carlina DiRusso Cleveland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/etdarchive How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! Recommended Citation DiRusso, Carlina, "Intentions and Behaviors: Testing Spiral of Silence in a Social Media Context" (2017). ETD Archive. 993. https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/etdarchive/993 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by EngagedScholarship@CSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in ETD Archive by an authorized administrator of EngagedScholarship@CSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INTENTIONS AND BEHAVIORS: TESTING SPIRAL OF SILENCE IN A SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEXT CARLINA DIRUSSO Bachelor of Arts in Strategic Communication The Ohio State University June 2014 Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree MASTERS OF APPLIED COMMUNICATION THEORY AND METHODOLOGY at the CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY May 2017 We hereby approve this thesis for CARLINA DIRUSSO Candidate for the Master of Arts in Applied Communication Theory & Methodology degree for the School of Communication and the CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY College of Graduate Studies _________________________________________________________________ Thesis Chairperson, Dr. Cheryl Bracken (5/10/2017) School of Communication _________________________________________________________________ Thesis Committee Member, Dr. Kathleen Stansberry (5/10/2017) School of Communication _________________________________________________________________ Thesis Committee Member, Dr. Richard Perloff (5/10/2017) School of Communication Student’s Date of Defense: May 10, 2017 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Cheryl Bracken, for spending so much time reading and editing my many drafts, for answering my infinite questions, and for her patience and attention to detail. I would also like to thank my co-advisor, Dr. Kathleen Stansberry, for inspiring the use of theory and topic (vaccination) in this study, and for sharing her vast knowledge of social media tools. I also would like to thank my committee member, Dr. Richard Perloff, for helping to shape this project in its early stages with invaluable insight, challenging questions, and macro-level thinking. iii INTENTIONS AND BEHAVIORS: TESTING SPIRAL OF SILENCE IN A SOCIAL MEDIA CONTEXT CARLINA DIRUSSO ABSTRACT This study tests for a spiral of silence effect on Facebook using vaccination as the controversial topic. Participants were required to have a Facebook account and to log in to their account to participate in the experiment. The three experimental conditions were real Facebook posts containing a meme about vaccines and a comment thread, where the manipulation occurred. The anti-vaccination condition had mostly anti-vaccination comments (9 of 10); the pro-vaccination condition had mostly pro-vaccination comments (9 of 10); and the mixed condition had an equal number of pro- and anti-vaccination comments (4 pro and 4 anti). Participants could leave a comment on the Facebook post; commenting on the post and intentions to engage with the post were the two dependent variables. Results found no difference in commenting or in intentions among the experimental conditions. Vaccination attitudes did not predict commenting but did predict intentions. There were no interaction effects of condition and attitudes on either commenting or intentions. A total of six comments were made across all conditions. Most of the comments supported vaccines. Results indicate vaccination did not inspire strong enough attitudes to create a spiral of silence effect on Facebook in this experiment. Keywords: spiral of silence, Facebook, social media, opinions, vaccination iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................... x CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE ................................................... 1 II. LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 5 Spiral of Silence ............................................................................ 5 Individual Differences ....................................................... 7 Hardcore Opinions ............................................................ 8 Spiral of Silence Online ................................................... 9 Spiral of Silence on SNSs ................................................. 10 Spiral of Silence Research Applications .......................... 12 Mixed Opinion Climates................................................... 14 Research Question 1 .......................................................... 15 Hypothesis 1 ...................................................................... 15 Hypothesis 2 ...................................................................... 15 The Anti-Vaccination Movement.................................................. 16 Origins ............................................................................... 16 Anti-Vaccination Information Online .............................. 17 Research Question 2a ....................................................... 20 v Research Question 2b ....................................................... 20 Research Question 3 .......................................................... 20 III. METHOD ................................................................................................. 21 Study Design ................................................................................ 21 Sample and Procedures ................................................................ 21 Stimulus Materials ....................................................................... 22 Manipulation Test ............................................................ 22 Vaccination Neutral Meme ............................................. 22 Anti-Vaccination Comments ............................................ 23 Pro-Vaccination Comments ............................................. 25 Mixed Comments ............................................................. 25 Measurement ................................................................................ 25 Independent Variables .................................................................. 25 Perception of Climate ....................................................... 25 Fear of Isolation ............................................................... 26 Facebook Political Participation ........................................ 26 Importance of SNSs for Politics ........................................ 26 Issue Importance ............................................................... 27 Issue Knowledge ............................................................... 27 Willingness to Self-Censor ............................................... 27 Prior Beliefs about Vaccination in General ...................... 28 Demographics ................................................................... 28 Dependent Variables ................................................................... 28 vi Behavioral Intention .......................................................... 28 Commenting ................................................................... 29 Procedures ................................................................................. 29 IV. RESULTS ................................................................................................ 32 Sample Description ...................................................................... 32 Research Question 1 and 2a .......................................................... 33 Hypothesis 1 and 2 ........................................................................ 35 Research Question 2b .................................................................... 36 Research Question 3 ..................................................................... 36 Additional Analyses .................................................................... 37 V. DISCUSSION .......................................................................................... 47 Summary of Results ..................................................................... 47 Limitations and Future Research .................................................. 56 Conclusion .................................................................................... 57 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 58 APPENDICES ....................................................................................................... 71 A. EXPERIMENTAL CONDITION COMMENTS ..................................... 72 B. DESCRIPTIVES TABLE ......................................................................... 75 C. INTERACTIONS GRAPHS ................................................................... 76 D. QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................. 78 E. IRB APPROVAL LETTER ..................................................................... 93 F. ITEM MEANS TABLE ..........................................................................