Persuasion in Online Conversations Is Associated with Alignment in Expressed Human Values

TL;DR

This study reveals that successful persuasion in online discussions correlates with pre-existing value compatibility and emerging value alignment during conversations, emphasizing the importance of underlying human values over surface linguistic features.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis linking human value expression and alignment to persuasion success in online discourse, using data from Reddit's ChangeMyView subreddit.

Findings

Successful persuasion is linked to pre-existing value compatibility.

Value alignment emerges during conversations associated with persuasion.

Large departures from typical value patterns are not necessary for persuasion.

Abstract

Online disagreements often fail to produce understanding, instead reinforcing existing positions or escalating conflict. Prior work on predictors of successful persuasion in online discourse has largely focused on surface features such as linguistic style or conversational structure, leaving open the role of underlying principles or concerns that participants bring to an interaction. In this paper, we investigate how the expression and alignment of human values in back-and-forth online discussions relate to persuasion. Using data from Reddit's ChangeMyView subreddit, where successful persuasion is explicitly signaled through the awarding of deltas, we analyze one-on-one exchanges and characterize participants' value expression by drawing from Schwartz's Refined Theory of Basic Human Values. We find that successful persuasion is associated with two complementary processes: pre-existing compatibility between participants' value priorities even before the exchange happens, and the emergence of value alignment over the course of a conversation. At the same time, successful persuasion does not depend on commenters making large departures from their typical value expression patterns. We discuss implications of our findings for the design of online social platforms that aim to support constructive engagement across disagreement.