A slap or a jab: An experiment on viewing uncivil political discussions on facebook

Across two experiments conducted at the end of the last presidential election, we replicate previous findings that exposure to incivility while viewing political debates on Facebook can be both upsetting and engaging. This study adds to research by testing the differential effects of two kinds of incivility: insults and mockery. The effects of these two types of incivility change depending on the topic, whether gun control or abortion, suggesting that future research on online incivility may need to better address topic-specific outcomes. •Exposure to incivility in political debates can be both upsetting and engaging.•Result shows differential effects of two kinds of incivility, insults and mockery.•Both mockery and insult lead to negative emotion when discussing gun control.•Only mockery, not insult, lead to negative emotion when discussing abortion.