week 4 + lecture 11 Flashcards
characteristics of mediatisation
- politicians adapt their messages to media-logic, news values, newsroom routines and journalistics culture
- sensationalism: politics as a spectacle
focus on individuals instead of structure - emotions instead of facts
- events presented without context and explanatory frame
- media play a particular role in spreading fear and cultivating perceptions of threat
mudde about populism and democracy
populism is a symptom of a democratic deficit
- rise in right wing populism: global economic crisis leading to higher levels of inequality, with getting stereotypes about others
→ declining wealth and opportunity
- due to globalization the lower and middle class is offered less and less socio-economic protection
- first it was only lower middle class, but now also support from working-class
- due to outsourcing to countries with cheap labor and via automation at home
definiton incels
involuntary celibate: someone unable to develop romantic or sexual relationships despite desiring one
what happens with new media, individualisation and political participation
→ individualized civic environment, where public engagement is a personal experience, not a collective one → blurring the private and public sphere → these socio demographic trends will impact political participation
3 important characteristics of populism
- an idealizes sense of historical nation and community (for “the people”)
- has a critical stance towards elites
- their ideology pits a virtuous and homogenous people against a set of elites as dangerous others who are together to downgrade the sovereign people of their rights, values, voice and identity
the 2 homologies and 4 antagonists with populism
- singular leader with unique capacity to understand and represent the homogenous people
- he can claims to personally embody the direct expressions - traditional elites protect outsides at the expense of the majority of the population
- populist vs. elite
anti-establishment movement: rejection of entire economics establishment, cultural and political people - betrayal of the people
- the entire ruling class works in union against ‘the people’
- there’s only one correct use of power: when political resources are used in interest of the homogenous people - the other, the outsider, the enemy of the people
- adversarial relationships between ‘the people’ and newcomers/immigrants - Hostility of populist towards out-groups that are contrasted to the native, majority people
- us (favoring) vs. them (derogating) thinking
rule of man vs rule of law
rule of man = the claim of populists to represent the people
rule of law = the claim of the elites that populists violate constitutional and other legal norms and rules (by not being equal etc.))
results experiment with UK and DE participants reading a EU citizen blog
- yes or no conspiracy
- yes or no agreeing with conspriacy
- measures populist attitudes and xenophonia
results:
populist attitudes
no conspiracy theory:
- less agreement → more populistics
- more agreement → less populistic
yes conspiracy theory
- less agreement → less populistic
- more agreement → more populistic
xenophobia
- same as populist attitudes
- differences are higher
- gullibility explanation: populist attitudes → higher likelihood of believing any claim that is NOT INconsistent with one’s worldview
how does populism on the internet look like
- populist are more prone to spread fake news info than mainstream parties
- gullibility mixed with diffusion of hoaxes, fake news and misinfo
- online it’s easier to find communities were you are welcome (bubbles)
- once they receive positive reinforcement, easier to keep believing
- it all boils down to trust: believe the source who they trust
definiton bullshit receptivity + combination with populism
the extent to which people perceive deeper meaning in statements that appear profound but actually are empty
- populist predicts stronger receptivity (=willingness to consider new ideas) to bullshit
- inspired by research: How credible do people find news if provided by mainstream networks (CNN) vs. unknown/fake ones. results: people with populist mindset believed everything more, regardless of the source (they naive and don’t check their source)
definiton of contagion and social contagion
Contagion= transmission of a disease by direct contact with an infected person or object. a disease or poison transmitted in this way. The means of transmission of transmissionL transmission of an emotional state or a harmful influence
Social contagion= refers to the propensity (neiging) for a person to copy certain behavior of others who are either in the vicinity (nabijheid), or whom they have been exposed to.
defnition social norms
rules and standards that are understood by members of a group, guide and/or constrain social behavior without the force of lawe
RQ and results experiment in university about washing your hands and social norms
5 male college students with handwashing guide place in university bathrooms varying specific sentence about the norm:
- 4 out of 5 students wash their hands
- 1 out of 5 students wash their hands
results:
⅘ → 88% washed
⅕ → 81% washed
control → 70%
- so even saying that people do it helps
5 types of norms, with their meaning and utility
- collective
- is the actual prevalence of behavior
- utility: enable a code of conduct
example: replying to a friends text - perceived
- perceptions about the prevalence of behavior and pressures to conform
- utility: avoid cognitive dissonance - injunctive
- perceived pressure to conform to avoid social sanctions
- utility: gain social approval
example: getting many likes and followers, even tho you don’t care - descriptive
- perceived prevalence of behavior
- utility: provide social info
example: majority of people talked with their family about organ donation - subjective
perceptions about what important others expect one to do
utility: maintain harmony
defninition prevalence
the proportion of a population who have specific characteristics in a given time period
theory of normative social behavior
it thinks that under certain conditions descriptive norms affect behavior
- norms don’t always affect behavior. It’s not guaranteed like a magic winning formula
potential moderators between descriptive norms and behavior
- injunctive norms
- outcome expectations
- group identity and group involvement
- perceived social distance
- ego-involvement
RQ and results article Masur: behavioral contagion on social media
- factor A: amount of visual disclosure in post (0,20 or 80 shows face)
- factor B: amount of visual disclosure in profile pictures (0,20 or 80 shows face)
- privacy nudge
RQ:
do new users of a social networks site copy behaviors of existing users?
is this effect mediated by social norm perceptions?
collective norm → norm perceptions → self-disclosure
Results
norm perceptions
- with posts people had higher norm perceptions
- with profile pictures for 20% they did, the rest not significantly
disclosure intentions
- with posts for 0% and 20% they did, the rest no significant
- with profile pictures for 20% they did, the rest nog significant
- higher visual disclosure –> higher norm perception
privacy nudge din’t have any effect
conclusion lecture 10
behaviors and emotions can spreed across social networks, altho the effects are somewhat small
social contagion effects could be exploited by large companies using algorithmic curation
definition literacy
- has many definitions among diverse domains
- mainly: you should be able to do something
- narrow and common sens: being able to write and read
- today: many different types of literacy
- critical: tendency to stigmatize those who lack it
definiton media literacy
the the ability to:
1. access (dynamic, ongoing and social process of the media and its features, not a one-off act)
2. analyze media content (substained and satisfactory engagement with symbolic texts rests on a range of analytic competencies)
3. evaluate (ability to distinguish dated, biased, fake or exploitative sources)
- being able to select intelligently when overwhelmed by an abundance of info
4. create (messages, including audience awareness, impact, consequences)
- easier than ever
- tools for communication for the ‘voiceless’
messages across a variety of contexts
different types of media literacy
advertising
online privacy
news
social media
digital
definition social media literacy
the extent to which cognitive and affective structures are present among users to ensure the risks of interaction with social media content are mitigated an the opportunities are maximized
cognitive vs affective structures of social media literacy
cognitive structures: sets of organized knowledge in the users’s memory that provide the user with sufficient resources to process social media content adequately
affective structures: sets of organized emotions in the user’s memory which guide emotions in response to using social media
social media literacy model
–> see summary for detailed model
assumption 1: social media literacy as a moderator (M)
- users have a thorough understanding of the negative effects that one’s own behaviors and certain content types of other could trigger
assumption 2: social media as predictor (X)
- social media literacy shapes social media content preferences: exposure to social media content of others and one’s own social media behavior
- it shapes access and how social media is used
assumption 3: social media as result (Y)
5 core competencies of social media literacy
- ability to find and access social media platforms and use them and their respective options and channels skillfully
- ability to critically evaluate social media content and its potential consequences
- ability to generate creative social media content with an awareness of the specific audience
- ability to reflect on one’s own behavior, apply social responsibility, and adequate manage one’s affective responses
- ability to develop and perpetuate prosocial behavioral norms and exhibit digital citizenship
6 domains of social media literacy
- media balance: reflecting and using social media in a positive and balanced way
- cyberbullying: identifying sings of cyberbullying and practicing how to respond
- privacy: positively shaping the digital footprints and manage privacy
- advertisement: identifying and coping with ad’s
- news: evaluating and respond to (fake) news
- phishing: identifying and taking action against phishing scams
knowledge about online privacy literacy
factual knowledge: “knowing this” Knowledge about economical, technical, and legal aspects of online privacy and data protection
- knowledge about institutional practices
- knowledge about technical aspects
procedural knowledge: “knowing how” Knowledge about privacy and data protection strategies
- knowledge about data protection law
- knowledge about data protection strategies
3 factors where media literacy can buffer against negative effect on social media for individuals
- on body image (experiment bwith social media post showed less effect when having media literacy)
- on self-disclosure (experiment with fake instagram site with visual disclosure on posts and profile pictures)
- on privacy and self-determination
- enables individual data protection
- enhances critical thinking
- could protect against persuasion attempts
