Online moral disengagement and hostile emotions in discussions on hosting immigrants

The purpose of this paper is to explore the “dark nuances” of social media by identifying moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms and hostile emotions in people discussing the hosting of immigrants and examining the relationship between MD mechanisms and hostile emotions expressed online (annoyance, irritation and contempt).

The method was based on a psycho-lexicographical approach that analysed the in vivo real words, adopting a quanti-qualitative point of view. The investigation started from the case of a Facebook post in support of immigrants after a serious shipwreck causing the death of more than 700 would-be migrants. More than 10,000 comments were codified. For the comments against the hosting of such immigrants, the authors followed a codebook aimed at identifying MD mechanisms and hostile emotions.

The main findings show an interplay between different hostile negative emotions and online MD mechanisms. The greater the intensity of hostile emotions, the more the locus of disengagement moves from the unethical individual’s behaviour – for example, offering moral justifications – to the target recipient of such behaviour – for example, blaming or dehumanising.

The study could be applicable in designing and developing algorithms and technological tools aimed at preventive interventions to promote moral awareness and emotional regulation in online settings.

The study may be a useful contribution to understanding unethical orientation by identifying areas where education can intervene in reducing harmful behavioural tendencies.

This study takes together expressed hostile emotions and MD mechanisms by means of the analysis of real words in vivo through social media discussions.