# A “Need for Chaos” and the Sharing of Hostile Political Rumors in Advanced Democracies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 2, 2019, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-need-for-chaos-and-the-sharing-of-hostile-political-rumors-in-advanced-democracies/839579 "2019-09-02T04:54:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-need-for-chaos-and-the-sharing-of-hostile-political-rumors-in-advanced-democracies/839579/1 "2019-09-02T04:54:53Z")
Not mundane or pointless, but something that should be shared around because the first, and most important, step to solve a problem is to understand the causes: [A “Need for Chaos” and the Sharing of Hostile Political Rumors in Advanced Democracies](https://psyarxiv.com/6m4ts/) ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-need-for-chaos-and-the-sharing-of-hostile-political-rumors-in-advanced-democracies/839579/2 "2019-09-02T05:17:29Z")
Is this not s PDF for you? It comes as a pdf that wants downloading for me. Probably because I’m looking at it (well trying to) on a very simple browser on a mobile device ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-need-for-chaos-and-the-sharing-of-hostile-political-rumors-in-advanced-democracies/839579/3 "2019-09-02T06:50:12Z")
> [@DorkVader](#): > > Is this not s PDF for you? It comes as a pdf that wants downloading for me. > > Probably because I’m looking at it (well trying to) on a very simple browser on a mobile device It shows as an embedded PDF on my laptop, but there’s no option to download it, which would be nice because it would make an easier reading. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-need-for-chaos-and-the-sharing-of-hostile-political-rumors-in-advanced-democracies/839579/4 "2019-09-02T08:16:43Z")
Maybe “Print” and then choose the PDF printer? I can’t tell, I’m at work and this browser is a complete git. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-need-for-chaos-and-the-sharing-of-hostile-political-rumors-in-advanced-democracies/839579/5 "2019-09-03T16:35:57Z")
Maybe you could quote some of the relevant bits. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-need-for-chaos-and-the-sharing-of-hostile-political-rumors-in-advanced-democracies/839579/6 "2019-09-03T16:49:47Z")
The link [OSF](https://psyarxiv.com/6m4ts/) goes to a Pyschology type of arXiv where the paper can be seen. > [@Abstract](#): > > The circulation of hostile political rumors (including but not limited to false news and conspiracy theories) has gained prominence in public debates across advanced democracies. Here, we provide the first comprehensive assessment of the psychological syndrome that elicits motivations to share hostile political rumors among citizens of democratic societies. Against the notion that sharing occurs to help one mainstream political actor in the increasingly polarized electoral competition against other mainstream actors, we demonstrate that sharing motivations are associated with ‘chaotic’ motivations to “burn down” the entire established democratic ‘cosmos’. We show that this extreme discontent is associated with motivations to share hostile political rumors, not because such rumors are viewed to be true but because they are believed to mobilize the audience against disliked elites. We introduce an individual difference measure, the “Need for Chaos”, to measure these motivations and illuminate their social causes, linked to frustrated status-seeking. Finally, we show that chaotic motivations are surprisingly widespread within advanced democracies, having some hold in up to 40 percent of the American national population. Basically people share nasty things to induce anger. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-need-for-chaos-and-the-sharing-of-hostile-political-rumors-in-advanced-democracies/839579/7 "2019-09-03T20:27:09Z")
Thanks, **Grey**. Does it mention interference from hostile foreign actors, who want just to disrupt? Regards, Shodan