I suspect this is yet another instance in which correlation is not indicative of causation. In a cyber-world characterized by the digital divide, would it not logically be the case that well-to-do Internet users are better educated and exposed to a wider variety of life experiences in their "real world" existence? I doubt the Internet makes us more tolerant. It's just that people who have learned to be tolerant happen to be the people with the wherewithal to populate the Internet. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Asst. Professor of Communication/Linguistics, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa http://faculty.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain LivingInternet wrote:
I think Internet users become particularly aware of the importance of freedom of speech, which leads to a respect, or at least tolerance, for the voicing of a variety of views. See http://livinginternet.com/i/ip_speech.htm
Cheers, Bill
At 12:13 PM 6/18/01 -0400, you wrote:
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports a study by John Robinson that suggests Internet users are more tolerant of diverse viewpoints. (Chronicle article link below.)
I find this study and its conclusions to be very curious. Why are people who use the Internet more than 10 hours a week more likely to be tolerant of diversity than those who are not online? Is tolerance related to some larger psychological trait? Is there something about this technology that tolerant people are drawn to use it? Is there some demographic factor not accounted for in their analysis that would make the finding disappear?
The write-up of the actual study is: http://www.webuse.umd.edu/webshop/resources/Diversity%20DivideWP-Alan.pdf
~Jenny Stromer-Galley Annenberg School for Communication University of Pennsylvania
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From the Chronicle of Higher Education: A Study Finds That Web Users Are More Tolerant Than Non-Users By JEFFREY R. YOUNG
Internet users are more tolerant of diverse viewpoints than those who do not venture into cyberspace, according to data from an extensive survey of American public opinion.
The information was collected as part of the 2000 General Social Survey. The survey, which is commonly used by social scientists, has been conducted every one or two years since 1974 by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center.
More: http://chronicle.com/free/2001/06/2001061501t.htm
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