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Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks
Individuals often signal identity information to facilitate assortment with partners who are likely to share norms, values, and goals. However, individuals may also be incentivized to encrypt their identity signals to avoid detection by dissimilar receivers, particularly when such detection is costl...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
National Academy of Sciences
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8915961/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35239438 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117898119 |
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author | van der Does, Tamara Galesic, Mirta Dunivin, Zackary Okun Smaldino, Paul E. |
author_facet | van der Does, Tamara Galesic, Mirta Dunivin, Zackary Okun Smaldino, Paul E. |
author_sort | van der Does, Tamara |
collection | PubMed |
description | Individuals often signal identity information to facilitate assortment with partners who are likely to share norms, values, and goals. However, individuals may also be incentivized to encrypt their identity signals to avoid detection by dissimilar receivers, particularly when such detection is costly. Using mathematical modeling, this idea has previously been formalized into a theory of covert signaling. In this paper, we provide an empirical test of the theory of covert signaling in the context of political identity signaling surrounding the 2020 US presidential elections. To identify likely covert and overt signals on Twitter, we use methods relying on differences in detection between ingroup and outgroup receivers. We strengthen our experimental predictions with additional mathematical modeling and examine the usage of selected covert and overt tweets in a behavioral experiment. We find that participants strategically adjust their signaling behavior in response to the political constitution of their audiences. These results support our predictions and point to opportunities for further theoretical development. Our findings have implications for our understanding of political communication, social identity, pragmatics, hate speech, and the maintenance of cooperation in diverse populations. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8915961 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | National Academy of Sciences |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-89159612022-03-12 Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks van der Does, Tamara Galesic, Mirta Dunivin, Zackary Okun Smaldino, Paul E. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Social Sciences Individuals often signal identity information to facilitate assortment with partners who are likely to share norms, values, and goals. However, individuals may also be incentivized to encrypt their identity signals to avoid detection by dissimilar receivers, particularly when such detection is costly. Using mathematical modeling, this idea has previously been formalized into a theory of covert signaling. In this paper, we provide an empirical test of the theory of covert signaling in the context of political identity signaling surrounding the 2020 US presidential elections. To identify likely covert and overt signals on Twitter, we use methods relying on differences in detection between ingroup and outgroup receivers. We strengthen our experimental predictions with additional mathematical modeling and examine the usage of selected covert and overt tweets in a behavioral experiment. We find that participants strategically adjust their signaling behavior in response to the political constitution of their audiences. These results support our predictions and point to opportunities for further theoretical development. Our findings have implications for our understanding of political communication, social identity, pragmatics, hate speech, and the maintenance of cooperation in diverse populations. National Academy of Sciences 2022-03-03 2022-03-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8915961/ /pubmed/35239438 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117898119 Text en Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Social Sciences van der Does, Tamara Galesic, Mirta Dunivin, Zackary Okun Smaldino, Paul E. Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks |
title | Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks |
title_full | Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks |
title_fullStr | Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks |
title_full_unstemmed | Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks |
title_short | Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks |
title_sort | strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks |
topic | Social Sciences |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8915961/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35239438 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117898119 |
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