Anger, Fear, and Echo Chambers: The Emotional Basis for Online Behavior
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Emotions, such as anger and fear, have been shown to influence people’s political behavior. However, few studies link emotions specifically to how people debate political issues and seek political information online. In this article, we examine how anger and fear are related to politics-oriented digital behavior, attempting to bridge the gap between the thus far disconnected literature on political psychology and the digital media. Based on survey data, we show that anger and fear are connected to distinct behaviors online. Angry people are more likely to engage in debates with people having both similar and opposing views. They also seek out information confirming their views more frequently. Anxious individuals, by contrast, tend to seek out information contradicting their opinions. These findings reiterate predictions made in the extant literature concerning the role of emotions in politics. Thus, we argue that anger reinforces echo chamber dynamics and trench warfare dynamics in the digital public sphere, while fear counteracts these dynamics.
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User attributes linked to echo chambers include, besides selective exposure, personality traits, fear of isolation and anger, openness, and reflectiveness.
“These user attributes that are linked to echo chambers include-besides selective exposurepersonality traits (e.g., [16]), fear of isolation and anger (e.g, [104]), openness (e.g., [84]), and reflectiveness (e.g., [93]).”
From A systematic review of echo chamber research: comparative analysis of conceptualizations, operationalizations, and varying outcomes (2025) · cites this paper as [104]
The Discussion and Conclusion says anger can reinforce echo chambers through searches for confirming information. It says fear counteracts that dynamic and reports no relationship between fear and participation in online debates. The cited paper therefore supports the anger portion of [104], but not the claimed link between fear of isolation and echo chambers; the other attributes have separate citations. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Wollebæk, D., Karlsen, R., Steen-Johnsen, K., & Enjolras, B.
- Affiliations
- Institute for Social Research (NO)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- Institute for Social Research, Norway
- Corresponding author
- Wollebæk, Dag
- Venue
- Social Media + Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-04
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 2056-3051 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2940412209
- Cited by
- 200
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 36.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Social Media + Society (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- Norges Forskningsråd (238118)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Populism, Right-Wing Movements
- Keywords
- anger, fear, emotions, online political behavior, echo chambers, trench warfare, political debate, information seeking, political information, digital public sphere, political psychology, online political discussion
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