week 7

Question 1

3 functions of mass media

Answer 1

1. surveillance
2. transmission of social heritage
3. correlation (=aligning different positions by not only portraying the diversity of opinions but also diminishing these differences to a certain extent)

Question 2

the hostile media effect

Answer 2

people’s tendency to perceive news coverage as one-sided and unfair in favor of their opposing side (HME)
- affects 2 fundamental features
1. the public’s ’trust
2. the media’s influence

Question 3

experiment: hostile media effect with mass media

Answer 3

2 (partisan position: pro or against) x 2(reach: USA today or essay) x 2 (source)
conclusion: HME is supported, source matters: article significant effects, essay less significant

Question 4

third person perspective

Answer 4

people attribute greater power to the media when they are asked about its effect on others than when they are asked about media influence on themselves

Question 5

self categorization theory

Answer 5

• every person is a member of different social groups
• social identities aren’t all present in the foreground at the same time
• if a certain category (teacher, worker, supporter) is activated, the accompanying social identity becomes salient

Question 6

social identification theory

Answer 6

• we classify people according to social categories (depends on the context)
• separation between we and them accentuation effect:
  
  • we overestimate
  • the similarities of members within the group and the differences between members between the groups

Question 7

hypotheses and RQ article hartmann & tanis: HME & intergroup phenomenon: the role of ingroup identification and status

Answer 7

1. HME
2. the more pro-choice and pro-life identify with their ingroup, the more they experience HME
3. if member consider the status of their ingroup low → HME, if high no HME
   results:
   - high identification: higher HME
   - pro-choice had higher scores than pro-life
   - high status: less HME
   - so all hypotheses are confirmed

Question 8

RQ and results article schulz et al: social identity approach to populist citizens false consensus and hostile media perceptions

Answer 8

1. are populist attitudes related to
   - false consensus perceptions (= overestimating the differences between groups, especially when the ingroup is under threat.
   - hostile media perceptions
2. what is the theoretical explanation behind this? can social identity theory provide insights? (us = populist supporters or politicians, them = homogeneous elite running the government)

Question 9

how is misinfo spread?

Answer 9

inadvertently
1. Media
- pressure from competition and 24/7 news cycle (less opportunity for fact-checking)
- false balance coverage even in the absence of balanced evidence
2. Social media
- fact-checking difficulties
- echo chambers and filter bubbles

on purpose
- repeating disinformation is persuasive
- disinformation campaigns designed to confuse, overwhelm, fatigue, disengage etc
- cognitive warfare → idk

Question 10

why would people belief disinfo?

Answer 10

• people like info that is in line with their previous ideas (and dislike counterintuitive info)
• people want to understand casualties, because if you understand what causes events, you can better prevent it from re-occuring. Especially with
  - unusual events
  - negative events
• the absence of good explanations opens the door for misinformation
  → conclusion: people build mental models of the world and they prefer complete models and models that are in line with pre-existing beliefs

Question 11

why is memory called reconstructive

Answer 11

• not like a recording advice (to be able to listening it back)
• not like a whiteboard (able to erase tings)
• it has a fallible memory (capable of making mistakes or being wrong)

Question 12

just tell people the simple solution of misinfo (info deficit model)

Answer 12

• doesn’t work
• simple retractions of misinfo are ineffective
  once communicated and processes by the individual, - it is no longer possible to just take it back
  even when they understand and remember the retraction and have no reason to believe on version of the story or the other

Question 13

5 ways of effective debunking + explanation

Answer 13

1. create a gap → fill the gap with a factual alternative
   - remove a myth leaves a gap (people hate gaps)
   - removed misinfo is actually still in memory, and people use it even when they know it’s wrong
   - unless, the gap can be filled with plausible alternative info
2. avoid familiarity backfire effect
   - flag the myths, don’t repeat the myths and focus on the facts
   - if you need to flag, give an explicit warning before
3. avoid overkill backfire effect
   - focus on the best arguments and keep it simple
4. avoid communication barriers
   - use graphs (or other means) a appropriate
   - make sure the visuals are clear: simple graphs, not too much info, function over form
5. avoid worldview backfire effect
   target the middle majority
   - if people have strong attitudes and beliefs they will be less skeptical about attitude-congruent misinfo and its source
   - they will defend their beliefs
   - attempts to correct a dearly held misbelief can cause misbelief
   - avoid aggressive, inflammatory language
   - efforts are best targeted towards undecided majority