Strategic identity signaling in heterogeneous networks
Abstract
Much of online conversation today consists of signaling one’s political identity. Although many signals are obvious to everyone, others are covert, recognizable to one’s ingroup while obscured from the outgroup. This type of covert identity signaling is critical for collaborations in a diverse society, but measuring covert signals has been difficult, slowing down theoretical development. We develop a method to detect covert and overt signals in tweets posted before the 2020 US presidential election and use a behavioral experiment to test predictions of a mathematical theory of covert signaling. Our results show that covert political signaling is more common when the perceived audience is politically diverse and open doors to a better understanding of communication in politically polarized societies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 03, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.2117898119
Entities
People
- Mirta Galesic
- Paul E. Smaldino
- Tamara van der Does
- Zackary Okun Dunivin
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna
- Indiana University
- Santa Fe Institute
- University of California
- University of Vermont