Tales of conflict: narrative immersion and political aggression in the United States

Instances of political incivility and aggression are becoming increasingly common in the United States. This manuscript contributes to our understanding of why partisans increasingly condone verbal aggression and antagonism by examining how immersion into media narratives about political conflict can affect a citizen’s feelings of political efficacy. Three experimental studies were designed to test the expectations that when partisans are immersed in a news narrative about political battles, media depictions in which their party is likely to lose the battle should lead to lower levels of political efficacy, which then leads to increased acceptance of verbal aggression and support for political antagonism. Results in all three studies provided support for the moderated mediation model.