scholarly journals ‘Fake News’ in Science Communication: Emotions and Strategies of Coping with Dissonance Online

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 206-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Taddicken ◽  
Laura Wolff
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Selective Exposure ◽  
Online Information ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Negative Arousal ◽  
And Coping

In view of events such as the public denial of climate change research by well-known politicians, the effects of postfactual disinformation and emotionalisation are discussed for science. Here, so-called ‘fake news’ are of focus. These are considered problematic, particularly in a high-choice media environment as users tend to show selective behaviour. Much research has demonstrated this selective exposure approach, which has roots in the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Festinger, 1957). However, research on the processes of coping with dissonance is still considered sparse. In particular, communication scholars have overlooked emotional states and negotiations. This article analyses the affects that are aroused when users are confronted with opinion-challenging disinformation and how they (emotionally) cope by using different strategies for online information. For this, we used the context of climate change that is widely accepted in Germany. The innovative research design included pre- and post-survey research, stimulus exposure (denying ‘fake news’), observations, and retrospective interviews (n = 50). Through this, we find that perceptions and coping strategies vary individually and that overt behaviour, such as searching for counter-arguments, should be seen against the background of individual ideas and motivations, such as believing in an easy rejection of arguments. Confirming neuroscientific findings, participants felt relieved and satisfied once they were able to dissolve their dissonant state and negative arousal. Dissatisfaction and frustration were expressed if this had not been accomplished.

scholarly journals What Framework Promotes Saliency of Climate Change Issues on Online Public Agenda: A Quantitative Study of Online Knowledge Community Quora

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Shi ◽  
Changfeng Chen ◽  
Jie Xiong ◽  
Haohuan Fu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Communication ◽  
Knowledge Community ◽  
The Public ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
Public Agenda

Though scientists have achieved consensus on the severity and urgency of climate change years ago, the public still considers this issue not that important, as the influence of climate change is widely thought to be geographically and temporally bounded. The discrepancy between scientific consensus and public’s misperception calls for more dedicated public communication strategies to get climate change issues back on the front line of the public agenda. Based on the large-scale data acquired from the online knowledge community Quora, we conduct a computational linguistic analysis followed by the regression model to address the climate change communication from the agenda setting perspective. To be specific, our results find that certain narrative strategies may make climate change issues more salient by engaging public into discussion or evoking their long-term interest. Though scientific communicators have long been blaming lack of scientific literacy for low saliency of climate change issues, cognitive framework is proved to be least effective in raising public concern. Affective framework is relatively more influential in motivating people to participate in climate change discussion: the stronger the affective intensity is, the more prominent the issue is, but the affective polarity is not important. Perceptual framework is most powerful in promoting public discussion and the only variable that can significantly motivate the public’s long-term desire to track issues, among which feeling plays the most critical role compared with seeing and hearing. This study extends existing science communication literature by shedding light on the role of previously ignored affective and perceptual frameworks in making issues salient and the conclusions may provide theoretical and practical implications for future climate change communication.

Methods for Assessing Online Climate Change Communication, Social Media Discussion, and Behavior

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leona Yi-Fan Su ◽  
Heather Akin ◽  
Dominique Brossard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Online Surveys ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
Research Fields

In recent years, increased Internet access and new communication technologies have led to the development of online methods for gathering public opinion and behavioral data related to controversial issues like climate change. To help climate-change researchers better adapt to the new era of online-based research, a review of, and methodological applications for, prevailing Internet-based research methods are provided here. Online surveys have become more common in the last decade for several reasons, including their relatively low administration cost, the pervasiveness of Internet communication, and declining response rates associated with traditional survey methods. Experiments embedded within online surveys have also become a useful tool for examining the extent to which online communications influence publics’ attitudes and behaviors. Other research methods that have gained growing attention from scholars are content analyses of online communication using big data approaches. By mining the seemingly infinite amount of user-generated content extracted from different social media sites, researchers are able to analyze issue awareness, responses to instant news, and emerging sentiments. This article provides a detailed overview of these Internet-based research methods, including their potential advantages and pitfalls, their applications in the science-communication and climate-change research fields, as well as suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals Fake News Sharing

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Rohit Valecha ◽  
Srikrishna Krishnarao Srinivasan ◽  
Tejaswi Volety ◽  
K. Hazel Kwon ◽  
Manish Agrawal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fake News ◽  
Timely Manner ◽  
Coping Responses ◽  
The Public ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Threat Cues ◽  
Similar Vein ◽  
And Coping ◽  
News Sharing ◽  
Positive Effect

Fake news has become a growing problem for societies, spreading virally and transforming into harmful impacts in social networks. The problem of fake news is even more troubling in the healthcare context. In the healthcare literature, it has been well established that threat situations and coping responses facilitate information sharing and seeking among the public. Along a similar vein, we argue that threat and coping related cues are important indicators of shareworthiness of fake news in social media. We address the following research questions associated with fake news sharing in the context of Zika virus: How do threat- and coping-related cues influence fake news sharing? We characterize threat situations that have threat and severity cues and coping responses that are based on reaction to protection and fear cues. The results indicate the significant positive effect of threat cues and protection cues on fake news sharing. Such an investigation can allow the monitoring of viral fake messages in a timely manner.

scholarly journals Exploring the digital media ecology: insights from a study of healthy diets and climate change communication on digital and social media

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (03) ◽  
pp. A02
Author(s):  
Emma Weitkamp ◽  
Elena Milani ◽  
Andy Ridgway ◽  
Clare Wilkinson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Media Ecology ◽  
The Public ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Change Communication ◽  
Healthy Diets ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Media

This study explores the types of actors visible in the digital science communication landscape in the Netherlands, Serbia and the U.K. Using the Koru model of science communication as a basis, we consider how science communicators craft their messages and which channels they are using to reach audiences. The study took as case studies the topics of climate change and healthy diets to enable comparison across countries, topics and platforms. These findings are compared with the results from a survey of over 200 science communication practitioners based in these countries. We find that although traditional media are challenged by the variety of different new entrants into the digital landscape, our results suggest that the media and journalists remain highly visible. In addition, our survey results suggest that many science communicators may struggle to gain traction in the crowded digital ecology, and in particular, that relatively few scientists and research institutions and universities are achieving a high profile in the public digital media ecology of science communication.

scholarly journals Credibility aspects of research-based gaming in science communication — the case of The Maladaptation Game

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (01) ◽  
pp. A01
Author(s):  
Therese Asplund
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Information Sources ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Perceived Fit ◽  
The Public

While previous studies have found games and gaming to be a new and innovative communication strategy to inform the public and citizens about scientific research and engage them with it, this article addresses the under-researched question of credibility aspects in research-based gaming. The study analyses agricultural stakeholders' discussions on the credibility of scientific descriptions in The Maladaptation Game — a game based on research on climate change maladaptation in Nordic agriculture. The analysis of focus group transcripts and frame credibility finds that players attribute credibility to 1) the perceived correspondence between game-articulated information on climate change, suggested adaptation actions and their potential maladaptive outcome, 2) the perceived “fit” between these elements and players' experiences, and 3) the information sources underpinning the game. Lastly, the article discusses the role of research-based games in science communication and advocates the need for careful balance between models of conceptual and scientific thinking in game design and everyday experiences among players.

Documentary and Edutainment Portrayals of Climate Change and Their Societal Impacts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn E. Cooper ◽  
Erik C. Nisbet
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
The Public ◽  
Television Shows ◽  
Narrative Story

As climate change becomes an increasingly serious problem, mass media are tasked with educating the public. Documentary films and television shows (also called “edutainment”) have been used for decades to communicate about the natural world so that the public may hopefully become informed about science in a simplified, easy-to-understand way. Although producers ostensibly create environmental documentaries in order to inform and/or advocate, theory development and empirical research is limited and insufficient in explaining how this genre influences audiences and why this genre may or may not be an effective means of science communication. Environmental documentaries have the potential to deeply impact audiences because these films promote learning while viewers are entertained, because engagement with the documentary narrative (story) can overcome biases such as politically driven motivated reasoning (conforming new evidence to existing beliefs) and can leverage biases such as the tendency to rely on affect (emotions) when estimating risks. Documentary storytelling can also enhance learning by connecting the causes and consequences of climate change in a sequential narrative. Climate change is a highly contentious political issue, which is reflected in the diversity of viewpoints found in climate change documentaries despite scientific consensus about the issue. While many of these films serve an educational purpose, others are geared toward advocacy. These advocacy programs aim to mobilize value-congruent audiences to engage in personal and collective action and/or to demand policy change. However, people prefer messages that align with their preexisting values, and so the belief disparity between climate change advocates and deniers grows with increasing media exposure as audiences with different beliefs watch and receive climate change messages in very different ways. Filmmakers and scientists must focus future efforts on creating visually engaging narratives within documentaries to promote both education and advocacy to diverse audiences.

Moral Reasoning, Intuitions, and Perceptions of Climate Change

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezra Markowitz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Moral Issue ◽  
Public Communication ◽  
Technical Issue ◽  
Forthcoming Article ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
The Public

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. Please check back later for the full article. Climate change is often perceived by individuals as a scientific, environmental, economic and/or technical issue. Until recently, the moral and ethical dimensions of the issue have appeared to resonate less strongly with many members of the public. Yet for over two decades, climate ethicists and others have argued strenuously that climate change is, perhaps at its core, a moral and ethical issue. What explains this apparent disconnect between normative and subjective perspectives on the moral core of climate change? Research has identified a set of key psychological and cultural mechanisms that influence and at times inhibit individual moral reasoning about climate change and, often, inhibit perceptions of climate change as a moral issue. Moral reasoning and intuitions about climate change in turn influence public engagement with and support for responses to the problem. The research to date suggests several new questions for scholars to examine further, and it offers implications for effective public communication and engagement.

The Oxford Handbook of the Science of Science Communication

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Science Communication ◽  
Causal Attribution ◽  
Selective Exposure ◽  
The Public ◽  
Science Of Science ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Scientific Controversies ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Popular Images

The cross-disciplinary Oxford Handbook on the Science of Science Communication contains 47 essays by 57 leading scholars organized into six sections: The first section establishes the need for a science of science communication, provides an overview of the area, examines sources of science knowledge and the ways in which changing media structures affect it, reveals what the public thinks about science, and situates current scientific controversies in their historical contexts. The book’s second part examines challenges to science including difficulties in peer review, rising numbers of retractions, publication and statistical biases, and hype. Successes and failures in communicating about four controversies are the subject of Part III: “mad cow,” nanotechnology, biotechnology, and the HPV and HBV vaccines. The fourth section focuses on the ways in which elite intermediaries communicate science. These include the national academies, scholarly presses, government organizations, museums, foundations, and social networks. It examines as well scientific deliberation among citizens and science-based policymaking. In Part V, the handbook treats science media interactions, knowledge-based journalism, polarized media environments, popular images of science, and the portrayal of science in entertainment, narratives, and comedy. The final section identifies the ways in which human biases that can affect communicated science can be overcome. Biases include resistant misinformation, inadequate frames, biases in moral reasoning, confirmation and selective exposure biases, innumeracy, recency effects, fear of the unnatural, normalization, false causal attribution, and public difficulty in processing uncertainty. Each section of the book includes a thematic synthesis.

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