New research on identity cues in social media shows it's not just what is said but who says it that matters
Nov 2022, phys.org
Carl Sagan was right. Know your source:
Identity effects in social media: 89-weeks, Reddit-like website, 6,400 viewer responses to 350,000 comments generated by 3,725 commenters. Each piece of content was randomly assigned to either an "anonymous" condition or "identified"
Findings:
- Identity effects accounted for up to 61 percent of the variation in voting, meaning that over half of the variance in users' decisions to up-vote or down-vote content was explained by the presence or absence of identity cues.
- The presence of identity cues also caused viewers to evaluate content faster, implying greater reliance on initial "knee-jerk" reactions and System I thinking rather than longer, deliberative, System II thinking.
Not Mentioned At All: Don't forget this is how large corporations brainwash us into thinking they have even a sliver of moral obligation; they flood the media with positive news, and spin negative news to be as favorable as possible, and are so persistent and pervasive in these efforts, that we assume they are "one of us" and "on our side", and therefore we can influence their behavior to be more aligned with our interests.
via MIT Sloan School of Management: Sinan Aral, Identity effects in social media, Nature Human Behaviour (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01459-8
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| AI Art - Dark Conference Hall Half Occupied - 2022 |
And in other conspiratorial news:
Pre-pandemic conspiratorial mindset predicted hesitance to accept COVID-19 vaccine
Nov 2022, phys.org
People who evinced a conspiracy mentality in 2019, prior to the pandemic, were subsequently more likely to believe COVID-19 conspiracy theories, except for Republicans and those who relied on conservative media such as Fox News were more likely to accept conspiracy theories in 2021 than they had been in 2019.
via Annenberg Public Policy Center at University of Pennsylvania: Daniel Romer et al, Conspiratorial thinking as a precursor to opposition to COVID-19 vaccination in the US: a multi-year study from 2018 to 2021, Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22014-5
Witchcraft beliefs are widespread, highly variable around the world
Nov 2022, phys.org
Witchcraft beliefs are linked to weak institutions, low levels of social trust, and low innovation, as well as conformist culture and higher levels of in-group bias — the tendency for people to favor others who are similar to them.
Funny how social media engagement algorithms exploit and increase these very features, leading to more conspiracy theories which are like witchcraft.
via Public Library of Science, Department of Economics, American University: Boris Gershman et al, Witchcraft beliefs around the world: An exploratory analysis, PLoS ONE (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0276872
New international study concludes digital media can fuel polarization and populism
Nov 2022, phys.org
Meta study on digital media:
- Digital media is Good for - increasing political knowledge and diversity of news exposure
- Digital media is Bad for - fostering polarization and populism
Findings:
- Beneficial in emerging democracies but destabilizing in established democracies.
- No evidence of echo chambers in studies looking at news exposure, for example, but they do seem to emerge within social media networks.
- In mature democracies such as the US and Europe, social media use causes increased polarization and decreased trust in institutions.
via University of Bristol, Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Hertie School in Germany: Philipp Lorenz-Spreen, A systematic review of worldwide causal and correlational evidence on digital media and democracy, Nature Human Behaviour (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01460-1
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