Why controversy captures attention
No single study proves that people simply “need conflict.” Research across several fields instead describes a set of related mechanisms, social functions, media incentives, and political consequences.
Communications & Media Studies
How conflict becomes news, how audiences select it, and why negative framing can hold attention.
News values and conflict
Galtung, J., & Ruge, M. H. (1965). “The Structure of Foreign News.” Journal of Peace Research, 2(1), 64–90.
View publication →News values in the digital era
Harcup, T., & O’Neill, D. (2017). “What is News? News values revisited (again).” Journalism Studies, 18(12), 1470–1488.
Demand for negative news
Trussler, M., & Soroka, S. (2014). “Consumer Demand for Cynical and Negative News Frames.” The International Journal of Press/Politics, 19(3), 360–379.
Communication and mood
Zillmann, D. (1988). “Mood Management Through Communication Choices.” American Behavioral Scientist, 31(3), 327–340.
Sociology
How conflict can define group boundaries, reinforce cohesion, release tension, and drive social change.
Conflict as social connection
Simmel, G. (1955 translation). Conflict and the Web of Group-Affiliations. Free Press.
The functions of conflict
Coser, L. A. (1956). The Functions of Social Conflict. Free Press.
Conflict as an empirical program
Collins, R. (1975). Conflict Sociology: Toward an Explanatory Science. Academic Press.
Deviance and shared norms
Durkheim, É. (1895/1982). The Rules of Sociological Method. Free Press.
Psychology
The attention, memory, emotion, identity, and curiosity mechanisms that can make threat and disagreement unusually compelling.
Negativity has greater weight
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). “Bad Is Stronger Than Good.” Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323–370.
View publication →Negativity bias and dominance
Rozin, P., & Royzman, E. B. (2001). “Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion.” Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(4), 296–320.
Gossip and social information
Dunbar, R. I. M. (2004). “Gossip in Evolutionary Perspective.” Review of General Psychology, 8(2), 100–110.
Morbid curiosity
Scrivner, C. (2021). “The psychology of morbid curiosity: Development and initial validation of the morbid curiosity scale.” Personality and Individual Differences, 183, 111139.
View publication →Identity and intergroup conflict
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). “An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict.” In The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations.
Political Science
How negativity, incivility, moral emotion, and competing interests affect public attention, participation, and polarization.
Physiological response to negative news
Soroka, S., Fournier, P., & Nir, L. (2019). “Cross-national evidence of a negativity bias in psychophysiological reactions to news.” PNAS, 116(38), 18888–18892.
View publication →Incivility, arousal, and political media
Mutz, D. C. (2015). In-Your-Face Politics: The Consequences of Uncivil Media. Princeton University Press.
Conflict and the public agenda
Schattschneider, E. E. (1960). The Semisovereign People. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Moral emotion and sharing
Brady, W. J., Wills, J. A., Jost, J. T., Tucker, J. A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2017). “Emotion shapes the diffusion of moralized content in social networks.” PNAS, 114(28), 7313–7318.
View publication →Social rewards and outrage
Brady, W. J., McLoughlin, K., Doan, T. N., & Crockett, M. J. (2021). “How social learning amplifies moral outrage expression in online social networks.” Science Advances, 7(33).
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