Reason and passion in public discussion on Sina Weibo. (December 2019) - Liu, Xinchuan
Highlights: Explore the co-existing relationship between emotion and rationality on Weibo. Advanced reasoning was present in emotional discussions. Rational and emotional discussions have different retransmission outcomes. Abstract: This study aimed to explore the relationship between reason and passion on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo, with an emphasis on the coexistence of emotional and rational arguments as well as how they predict message retransmission. It found that public discussions on the microblogging site are mostly emotional. However, advanced reasoning was also present in emotional discussions, which manifested itself in making appeals to the common good and using logical coherence. Although emotion and rationality are not mutually exclusive, they do produce different retransmission outcomes, with emotion positively related to reposts and the appeal to the common good receiving fewer shares.