Using Biological Markers to Measure Stress in Listeners of Commerical Talk Radio
Hermes J. Garban, Francisco Javier Iribarren, and Chon A. Noriega
with Nicholas Barr and Weidong Zhu
 
CSRC Working Paper, Number 3
August 2012

 
This pilot study established that a methodology that employs biological markers can be useful in determining the physiological and psychological effects of hate speech. The findings show a statistically significant correlation between changes in clinical anxiety and the production of salivary cortisol in listeners who were exposed to hate speech content on commercial talk radio. The research reveals that hate speech could potentially have a deleterious impact on the health of listeners, whether or not they are ideologically aligned with the host.