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From I to We: Group formation and linguistic adaption in an online xenophobic forum

Bäck, Emma ; Bäck, Hanna LU orcid ; Gustafsson-Sendén, Marie and Sikström, Sverker LU orcid (2018) In Journal of Social and Political Psychology 6(1). p.76-91
Abstract
Much of identity formation processes nowadays takes place online, indicating that intergroup differentiation may be found in online communities. This paper focuses on identity formation processes in an open online xenophobic, anti-immigrant, discussion forum. Open discussion forums provide an excellent opportunity to investigate open interactions that may reveal how identity is formed and how individual users are influenced by other users. Using computational text analysis and Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), our results show that new users change from an individual identification to a group identification over time as indicated by a decrease in the use of “I” and increase in the use of “we”. The analyses also show increased use of... (More)
Much of identity formation processes nowadays takes place online, indicating that intergroup differentiation may be found in online communities. This paper focuses on identity formation processes in an open online xenophobic, anti-immigrant, discussion forum. Open discussion forums provide an excellent opportunity to investigate open interactions that may reveal how identity is formed and how individual users are influenced by other users. Using computational text analysis and Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), our results show that new users change from an individual identification to a group identification over time as indicated by a decrease in the use of “I” and increase in the use of “we”. The analyses also show increased use of “they” indicating intergroup differentiation. Moreover, the linguistic style of new users became more similar to that of the overall forum over time. Further, the emotional content decreased over time. The results indicate that new users on a forum create a collective identity with the other users and adapt to them linguistically. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
volume
6
issue
1
pages
16 pages
publisher
PsychOpen
external identifiers
  • scopus:85045961874
ISSN
2195-3325
DOI
10.5964/jspp.v6i1.741
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4ffd055e-019d-4225-99ff-7b728a8bc949
date added to LUP
2018-03-22 10:13:40
date last changed
2024-02-13 17:26:41
@article{4ffd055e-019d-4225-99ff-7b728a8bc949,
  abstract     = {{Much of identity formation processes nowadays takes place online, indicating that intergroup differentiation may be found in online communities. This paper focuses on identity formation processes in an open online xenophobic, anti-immigrant, discussion forum. Open discussion forums provide an excellent opportunity to investigate open interactions that may reveal how identity is formed and how individual users are influenced by other users. Using computational text analysis and Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), our results show that new users change from an individual identification to a group identification over time as indicated by a decrease in the use of “I” and increase in the use of “we”. The analyses also show increased use of “they” indicating intergroup differentiation. Moreover, the linguistic style of new users became more similar to that of the overall forum over time. Further, the emotional content decreased over time. The results indicate that new users on a forum create a collective identity with the other users and adapt to them linguistically.}},
  author       = {{Bäck, Emma and Bäck, Hanna and Gustafsson-Sendén, Marie and Sikström, Sverker}},
  issn         = {{2195-3325}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{76--91}},
  publisher    = {{PsychOpen}},
  series       = {{Journal of Social and Political Psychology}},
  title        = {{From I to We: Group formation and linguistic adaption in an online xenophobic forum}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v6i1.741}},
  doi          = {{10.5964/jspp.v6i1.741}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}