POLITICAL OPINIONS OF US AND THEM AND THE INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL MEDIA - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

POLITICAL OPINIONS OF US AND THEM AND THE INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL MEDIA USAGE Laura Burbach André Calero Valdez & Martina Ziefle 10 th International Conference on Social Computing and Social Media (SCSM 2018) 2 von 14

Motivation • Polarization • risk for the stability of societies: perception of sub-groups with strong within-group coherence and strong out-group rejection the perception of us vs. them • formed polarized opinions: increasingly difficult to find compromise • Spread and use of social media • within-group and out-group opinions • opinion of everyone everywhere • Filter bubble (Pariser) and feedback-loop • algorithms present more of what people like • believability of Fake News could increase Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Method – Online survey Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Method – Online survey 10 political goals conservative liberal Better social security + social justice + security & order + political stability system + flexibility job + environmental + support top + gender equality market protection performer - poverty + national pride Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Method – Online survey Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Method – Online survey Voting left or right Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

The leftwing parties All these complains Method-Online survey plan to not coalize with lead nowhere. Nobody the CDU and plan the wants TTIP or CETA. If downfall of our nation. there is going to be a The CDU should surge in right wing consider coalizing with parties, it´s the leftwing the AFD. governments fault. 8 political opinions Where are all the Agreement I would really like to womens‘ rights friends know what this is all organizations now? good for. Is Germany Women‘s dignity is Agreement an immigration country being mistreated society now? I don‘t want this and nobody seems subordination to to care. foreigners. Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Method – Online survey Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Sample (N = 179) Gender: 65% 35% Age: M = 28.5 years (SD = 9.4, min = 18, max = 67 years) Education: 2.20% secondary education with/without completed apprenticeship 7.14% middle mature 52.20% university degree 36.80% university entrance diploma Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Results Media usage frequency vs. source of political information Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Results – Evaluating opinions Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Results – Evaluating opinions Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Results – Evaluating opinions We aim for a concrete goal. We fight for a society, with no kids in poverty, for self-determined peace, dignity, and social security, where we can construct a democratic society. We need a different economic system: a democratic socialism. Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Results – Evaluating opinions All these complains lead nowhere. Nobody wants TTIP or CETA. If there is going to be a surge in right wing parties, it‘s the leftwing governments fault. Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Results – Agreement friends vs. others Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Results – Polarization Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Results – Which independent variables influences polarization? polarization ( r = .23, p < .01) ( r = .22, p < .01) Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Key Results & Discussion • People perceive polarization à people who use social media and facebook more often tend to see polarization more strongly • influencial: not the source of political information but the mere usage frequency of social media à possibly subconscious exposure effect • similar to availability heuristic for risk judgements • frequency of public opinion forming is heavily biased towards the polarized states Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Key Results & Discussion • Motivational threshold for taking part in online discussions à more polarized state in social media Remaining questions: • Does the opinion space in social media really diverge from the opinions held by the general public needs? • Do users actually compensate for this distortion cognitively? Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Key Results & Discussion • Highly dynamic opinion shifts (depending on beliefs about opinions) à feedback is unavoidable à opinion poll itself à opinion changes • perception of polarization most prevalent: topics with right-wing political agendas à polarization is domain-specific, user dependent, and possibly not symmetrical Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Discussion – Limitations & Further Research • Sample • younger females with high education • age and education confound ☛ Future step: Translation to other social groups and other types of media? • Methodology • Opinions from real discussion on facebook, anonymized, real wording, reduced to possibly singular topics/domains • some opinions did „crossload“ to other opinions ☛ Future steps: opinions stemming from more singular domains ☛ Further studies: Translation of the findings to an improved understanding of opinion forming Political Opinions of Us and Them and the Influence of Digital Media Usage | | Laura Burbach, M. A. | | 18.07.2018

Thank you for your attention! People perceive polarization and perceive it more strongly if they use social media more often More polarized state in social media, because people with more extreme opinions do post their opinion more often Polarization is domain-specific, user dependent, and possibly not symmetrical Any questions? Contact: Laura Burbach, M.A. Human-Computer Interaction Center (HCIC) RWTH Aachen University 52074 Aachen, Germany burbach@comm.rwth-aachen.de