The internet is one of the fastest technological revolutions in human history. Almost 5 billion people worldwide use social media, and the average social media user now spends about two and a half hours a day online. Unfortunately, the online environment does not accurately reflect offline reality. Rather, it reflects a warped version of reality, akin to a funhouse mirror distorting the true reflection of the world. 

Our research investigates how the specific structural contexts of the internet and social media disrupts basic moral reasoning, facilitates negativity, and amplifies political extremity. 

Strong partisanship is inextricably linked with our senses of morality. Our sense of morality informs our political opinions, and can lead us to think of those who disagree with us as evil. These moral divides are one of the parts of polarization that can make the issue seem intractable. 

Our research investigates how morality functions (and disfunctions) in the political realm, leading to moral outrage and intractible conflict.

Emotions drive human behavior in expected and unexpected ways. Certain attentional biases, such as negativity bias, can lead to an overabundance of negativity in the online world when one conditions on attention. Furthermore, outrage & anger tend to go viral, even though people report wanting less negativity online and in the political realm.

Our research examines how negative emotions can act as an accelerant for political and moral conflict, both online and offline.