Internet Rumors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Dynamics of Topics and Public Psychologies

The capturing of social opinions, especially rumors, is a crucial issue in digital public health. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the discussions of related topics have increased exponentially in social media, with a large number of rumors on the Internet, which highly impede the harmony and sustainable development of society. As human health has never suffered a threat of this magnitude since the Internet era, past studies have lacked in-depth analysis of rumors regarding such a globally sweeping pandemic. This text-based analysis explores the dynamic features of Internet rumors during the COVID-19 pandemic considering the progress of the pandemic as time-series. Specifically, a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model is used to extract rumor topics that spread widely during the pandemic, and the extracted six rumor topics, i.e., “Human Immunity,” “Technology R&D,” “Virus Protection,” “People's Livelihood,” “Virus Spreading,” and “Psychosomatic Health” are found to show a certain degree of concentrated distribution at different stages of the pandemic. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) is used to statistically test the psychosocial dynamics reflected in the rumor texts, and the results show differences in psychosocial characteristics of rumors at different stages of the pandemic progression. There are also differences in the indicators of psychosocial characteristics between truth and disinformation. Our results reveal which topics of rumors and which psychosocial characteristics are more likely to spread at each stage of progress of the pandemic. The findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the changing public opinions and psychological dynamics during the pandemic, and also provide reference for public opinion responses to major public health emergencies that may arise in the future.

Exploring Social Media Use and Civic Engagement on the Discussion of Antinuclear Issue

Social media has brought a new communication revolution allowing users to connect, share, and discuss public & social opinions with others. The new look at social media has shaped social movements, and provides a fair voice to anyone who can be heard online. This research explores individuals’ civic engagement concerning the environmental issue of nuclear energy on social media. Nuclear energy is a global, social, and environmental issue, the research variables included in this study are self-presentation efficacy, fear of social isolation and stigma consciousness. The findings from this study will have implications for both research and practices, especially help understanding the civic engagement of social movement on social media.

A. V. Nikitenko’s Diary as a Source of Information on Jurors in Post-reform Russia

Впервые в научной литературе «Дневник» известного российского филолога А. В. Никитенко рассматривается в качестве источника изучения суда присяжных в Российской империи во второй половине XIX века в контексте источниковедческой парадигмы методологии истории. В статье отмечаются некоторые специфические особенности дневника как разновидности источников личного происхождения. В результате проведенного исследования делаются выводы, что «Дневнику» А. В. Никитенко свойственны характеристики, присущие дневнику как жанру исторического источника; хронологически «Дневник» является первым документом личного происхождения, в котором содержится информация о суде присяжных, исходящая от лица, лично исполнявшего соответствующие обязанности; в фактографическом плане по проблемам российского суда присяжных «Дневник» мало информативен, не содержит каких-либо значимых сведений; в плане оценочных суждений по материалам лично увиденного в суде присяжных в сочетании с информацией, полученной из других источников, «Дневник» представляет научный интерес, так как отражает позицию его автора, а также определенных общественных кругов по отношению к суду присяжных, к преобразованиям Александра II в целом и к борьбе консервативных представителей администрации за возврат к прошлому и попыткам нивелирования нововведений. The article presents the first attempt to investigate a renowned Russian philologist A. V. Nikitenko’s Diary as a source of information for jurors in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century in the context of source studies and historical methodology. The article underlines some specific peculiarities of a diary as a variety of personal information source. The researcher maintains that A. V. Nikitenko’s Diary has characteristics typical of a historical source. Chronologically, the Diary is the first personal document which contains inside information about a juror trial, for it is written by a person serving on a jury. The Diary fails to provide facts and details related to the problems associated with Russian juror trials, however it contains first-hand assessments and information collected from other sources. The significance of the Diary as a source of research information is accounted for by the fact that it presents social opinions and personal views on Alexander II’s reforms and describes conservatives’ attempts to mitigate the impact of reforms and to defy innovations.

Attitudes Towards the Polar Regions as a Reflection of the Sense of Responsibility for the Environment. Theoretical Background for Further Study

The last two hundred years in the recent history of the Earth have been a period dominated by rapidly increasing human activity. Today, the discussion on the effects of anthropopressure takes the form of critical reflection on the negative impact of humanity on the natural environment. Although sparsely populated, the effects of this impact are particularly visible in the polar regions. The consequences of anthropopressure take the form of melting ice caps and glaciers, warming and thawing of permafrost, changes in sea ice structure, erosion of sea coasts, changes in the scale of Arctic fauna and flora, and a warmer climate. Research conducted in the US shows that its citizens have knowledge about polar regions, but that the level of this knowledge is low. The scope of general knowledge, the level of education, and social and demographic features (age, gender, income) may influence the formation of social opinions reflected in legislative and political solutions concerning the polar regions. Social science research has already shown that changing people’s attitudes is much more effective if the process starts in adolescence, at the beginning of institutional education. In such a situation, diagnosing the attitudes of young citizens toward polar areas is important for their further development, especially if these attitudes are to be treated as a reflection of wider attitudes toward the natural environment. In this article we set forth to review how attitudes related to the polar regions, may be used as an example of general mechanisms of changing attitudes towards the environment in general. We provide analysis that can be used as background for designing empirical research and further – for designing educational and social plans promoting environmental responsibility.

Finding shared meaning in the Anthropocene: engaging diverse perspectives on climate change

The scientific evidence of climate change has never been clearer and more convergent, and calls for transformations to sustainability have never been greater. Yet, perspectives and social opinions about it remain fractured, and collaborative action is faltering. Climate policy seeks to forge a singular sense of climate change, dominated by an ‘information deficit model’ that focuses on transferring climate science to the lay public. Critics argue that this leaves out certain perspectives, including the plurality of meanings uncovered through participatory approaches. However, questions remain about how these approaches can better account for nuances in the psychological complexity of climate change, without getting stuck in the cul-de-sacs of epistemological relativism and post-truth politics. In this paper, I explore an approach through which we might find shared meaning at the interface of individual and collective views about climate change. I first present a conceptual framework that describes five psychological reasons why climate change challenges individual and collective meaning-making, and also provides a way to understand how meaning is organized within that. I then use this framework to inform the use of photo voice as a transformative (action-research) method, examining its ability to overcome some of the meaning-making challenges specific to climate change. I discuss how participants from a coffee cooperative in Guatemala reflected first on their own climate meanings and then engaged in a meaning-making process with other actors in the coffee value chain. Findings suggest a psychosocial approach to climate engagement—one that engages both subjectively and intersubjectively on the complexities unique to climate change—is helpful in acknowledging an ontological pluralism of ‘climate changes’ amongst individuals, while also supporting a nexus-agreement collectively. This may in turn contribute to a more effective and ethical process of transformation.

Exploring linguistic features, ideologies, and critical thinking in Chinese news comments

This study explores linguistic features, ideological beliefs, and critical thinking in news comments, which are defined as the comments from readers to news posts on social media or platforms. Within the overarching framework of critical discourse analysis, a sociocognitive approach was adopted to provide detailed analyses of the studied constructs in sampled news comments. In terms of the data collection and analysis, sampled social media, news columns, and news comments were selected, and then 19 college students were interviewed for their responses to different news topics. The primary findings of the study include: (1) personal and social opinions are representations of ideological beliefs and are fully presented through news comments, (2) these personal and social ideological beliefs may diverge or converge due to critical thinking, (3) critical thinking helps commenters form their personal and social ideologies, and then helps them choose the linguistic forms they believe fit their news comments, (4) news topics, however, vary in informing commenters’ critical thinking ability. Finally, a sociocognitive model for studying linguistic forms, ideologies, and critical thinking was proposed in the study.

Gender, Family, and Politics of Inheritance in Pakistan

There are a huge global and local gender gap in inheritance property. Men hold most material and land resources in communities and families as compared to women. Ownership of inheritance property is one indicator of the empowerment of women. This paper examines the power politics played around inheritance property within families in Pakistan. By using a qualitative interpretative feminist approach, data were collected from thirty men and women from rural and urban areas of Rawalpindi and Chakwal districts. The findings revealed that power played a very important role within the families to keep inheritance property to men. The findings further highlighted that gender ideologies are produced in the family through socialization and reproduced socially through gender stereotypes, beliefs, and social opinions to keep inheritance property within families. The researchers argue that inheritance property within the families is political that embedded power and it is ignored often when men hold power to women and children. This paper proposes to reflect upon the power of men as head of the household in the family in the context of inheritance property.

Evade and Deceive? Citizen Responses to Surveillance

How does state surveillance influence citizens’ willingness to express political and social opinions? This article theorizes about different citizen responses to surveillance which fall on what we term the evasion-deception spectrum, including preference falsification, self-censorship, and opting-out. We present the results from an empirical exploration of these responses, drawing on an online survey experiment conducted in Japan. In our survey, we use a novel experimental stimulus to assess whether individuals engage in different forms of evasion and deception when plausibly under government surveillance. The study finds that citizens are substantially more likely to opt-out of sharing their opinions (by exiting a survey) when reminded of their government’s capacity for monitoring. This occurs even when it implies a monetary cost (forfeiting payment for the survey) and even in a fully consolidated democracy, where freedoms of speech and opinion are legally codified. We conclude by discussing the implications of this finding for democratic deliberation and citizen-state relations.

INFLUENCE OF THE REFORM OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND, CONDUCTED IN THE YEARS 2009-2016, ON THE SECURITY OF THE COUNTRY IN THE OPINION OF CITIZENS

The conflict in Ukraine in 2014 raised questions in Poland about the legitimacy and effectiveness of the reform of the Polish army, which began in 2009. The abandonment of universal conscription and professionalization of the army resulted in a decrease in the number of people who underwent military training. And this began to raise concerns about the security of the state and its citizens. Research on the professionalization of the army and the impact of this decision on the increase or decrease of threats is important for Polish citizens. The article presents social opinions on this topic

Polacy w słowackiej publicystyce i polityce od lat 30. do 60. XIX wieku

Poles in Slovak journalism and politics from the 1830s to the 1860s This paper sheds light on the perception of the Polish people, Polish politics, and their issues in Slovak journalism between 1830 and 1872. On the whole, the views were limited by the social opinions voiced by Slovak nationalists as well as by their interests and the general weakness of their National Movement. Slovak nationalists refused to accept political concepts that, on the one hand, supported the creation of nation states (by “large”nations such as Poland), and on the other hand, called for the assimilation of “small”nations living within them. This would spell the end of the Slavs and Romanians settled in Hungary, as Hungary would reform into one single national Hungarian state. Among all Austro-Slavs, the fear of “Magyarisation”contributed to the most intense and widespread Slavic solidarity and Russophilia in the Slovak-speaking environment. It also determined the difficult approach to the Polish issues. The Slovak nationalists sympathised with the Polish fate, however, at the same time, they had difficulties with accepting the Poland-Russia conflict. That is why we can find quite varied opinions of Poles and Polish issues. Idealising the Poles, Polonophilia, sympathising with Poles as regards their problems, careful and neutral views of those problems, efforts to limit the Poland-Russia conflict, and critical views of Poles were all entwined. For example, pro-Polish sympathies dominated in the Slovak National Movement in the 1830s, whereas in the 1840s the sympathies shifted towards Russia, despite the fact that some nationalists supported the Poles and their Uprising in Halych. The real Slovak-Polish co-operation can be seen particularly during the revolution in 1848–1849. Out of the Slovak political ideology emerged the Pan-Slavic work Slovanstvo a svet budúcnosti [Slavdom and the world of the future] by Ľ. Štúr, which combined the Slav perspective with the connections to Russia. The Polish issues were mainly present in the 1860s. During that time, the more conservative political wing, “Stará škola”[The Old School], was looking for support in the imperial Vienna, showing strong Russophilism and critical attitude to the Polish uprising. In contrast, the more liberal political line, “Nová škola”[The New School], striving for co-operation with Hungarian political parties, showed understanding for the Polish aversion and was critical of the imperial Russia. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, the Slovak politics and culture considerably weakened. The interest in glossing over the problems of the northern neighbour also declined. The Polish issues re-entered Slovak journalism again after the 1890s in connection with analysing new geo-political affairs on the continent and polarisation of the European superpowers.