THE “NEED FOR CHAOS” AND MOTIVATIONS TO SHARE HOSTILE POLITICAL RUMORS (Michael Bang Petersen, Mathias Osmundsen and Kevin Arceneaux, 2023)
"Why are some people motivated to circulate hostile political information? While prior studies have focused on partisan motivations, we demonstrate that some individuals circulate hostile rumors because they wish to unleash chaos to “burn down” the entire political order in the hope they gain status in the process. To understand this psychology, we theorize and measure a novel psychological state, the Need for Chaos, emerging in an interplay of social marginalization and status-oriented personalities."