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Playing the Blame Game : Public Perception of Incels’ Neutralization Arguments
Krawinkel, J.S. (2025) Playing the Blame Game : Public Perception of Incels’ Neutralization Arguments.
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| Abstract: | Incels, involuntary celibates, are a community of men using online forums to exchange predominantly misogynistic opinions on modern women. To neutralize their arguments and avoid responsibility, Incels commonly condemn their condemners by assigning blame for their lack of romantic relationship to feminists. This study focuses on how the general public perceives forum posts made by members of the Incel community. Utilizing a repeated measures design, 108 participants were presented with four fictious forum posts and asked for their blame attribution as well judgements of morality, acceptability and harm perception. The posts differed in their message frame, containing a self-blaming rhetoric or condemning the condemners and expressed either medium or low severity of derogatory language. Compared to a self-blaming message, participants assigned higher responsibility to the Incel when he was blaming feminists. They also judged the posts to be less socially acceptable and perceived higher intentional harm done to feminists. These effects were higher when the Incel used more derogatory language in his arguments. This study therefore demonstrated that by condemning their condemners, Incels do not seem to convince outgroup individuals of their blamelessness. However, the effect of such rhetoric on the ingroup is not yet known. Thereby, this study provides insight into the communication of Incels and how their arguments are perceived while also underlining how further research can utilize these findings to expand the understanding of the continuously growing and polarizing Incel community. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/106985 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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