Investigating the effect of selective exposure, audience fragmentation, and echo-chambers on polarization in dynamic media ecosystems

IF 1.3 Q3 COMPUTER SCIENCE, THEORY & METHODS Applied Network Science Pub Date : 2023-11-09 DOI:10.1007/s41109-023-00601-3
Nicholas Rabb, Lenore Cowen, Jan P. de Ruiter
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Abstract

Abstract The degree of polarization in many societies has become a pressing concern in media studies. Typically, it is argued that the internet and social media have created more media producers than ever before, allowing individual, biased media consumers to expose themselves only to what already confirms their beliefs, leading to polarized echo-chambers that further deepen polarization. This work introduces extensions to the recent Cognitive Cascades model of Rabb et al. to study this dynamic, allowing for simulation of information spread between media and networks of variably biased citizens. Our results partially confirm the above polarization logic, but also reveal several important enabling conditions for polarization to occur: (1) the distribution of media belief must be more polarized than the population; (2) the population must be at least somewhat persuadable to changing their belief according to new messages they hear; and finally, (3) the media must statically continue to broadcast more polarized messages rather than, say, adjust to appeal more to the beliefs of their current subscribers. Moreover, and somewhat counter-intuitively, under these conditions we find that polarization is more likely to occur when media consumers are exposed to more diverse messages, and that polarization occurred most often when there were low levels of echo-chambers and fragmentation. These results suggest that polarization is not simply due to biased individuals responding to an influx of media sources in the digital age, but also a consequence of polarized media conditions within an information ecosystem that supports more diverse exposure than is typically thought.
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研究动态媒体生态系统中选择性曝光、受众碎片化和回声室对极化的影响
许多社会的两极分化程度已成为媒体研究中迫切关注的问题。通常,有人认为,互联网和社交媒体创造了比以往任何时候都多的媒体生产者,允许个人的、有偏见的媒体消费者只接触已经证实他们信仰的东西,导致两极分化的回声室进一步加深两极分化。这项工作引入了Rabb等人最近的认知级联模型的扩展,以研究这种动态,允许在媒体和有不同偏见的公民的网络之间模拟信息传播。我们的研究结果在一定程度上证实了上述两极分化逻辑,但也揭示了两极分化发生的几个重要条件:(1)媒体信仰的分布必须比人口更极化;(2)民众必须至少在一定程度上能够被说服,根据他们听到的新信息改变他们的信仰;最后,(3)媒体必须静态地继续传播更加两极分化的信息,而不是,比如说,调整以更多地迎合当前订阅用户的信仰。此外,在这些条件下,我们发现,当媒体消费者接触到更多样化的信息时,两极分化更有可能发生,而当回声室和碎片化水平较低时,两极分化最常发生。这些结果表明,两极分化不仅仅是由于有偏见的个人对数字时代媒体资源涌入的反应,也是信息生态系统中媒体条件极化的结果,该生态系统支持比通常认为的更多样化的曝光。
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来源期刊
Applied Network Science
Applied Network Science Multidisciplinary-Multidisciplinary
CiteScore
4.60
自引率
4.50%
发文量
74
审稿时长
5 weeks
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