Abstract
Extremists often aim to paint a biased picture of the world. Radical narratives, for instance, in forms of internet memes or posts, could thus potentially trigger cognitive biases in their users. These cognitive biases, in turn, might shape the users’ formation of extremist attitudes. To test this association, an online experiment (N=392) was conducted with three types of right-wing radical narratives (elite-critique, ingroup-outgroup, violence) in contrast to two control conditions (nonpolitical and neutral political control condition). We then measured the impact of these narratives on the activation of three cognitive biases of relevance in the formation of extremist attitudes: the ingroup-outgroup bias, the negativity bias, and the just-world hypothesis. The results indicate that violence narratives seem to be particularly harmful as they heighten participants’ negativity bias and increase just-world views. Just-world views in turn show a positive relationship to extremist attitudes, which highlights the need of regulating violence invocations on social media.
Acknowledgment
This research was supported by the European Union’s Internal Security Fund (ISFP-2018-AG-CT-CSEP). Grant number: 867186
References
Ahmed, M., & George, F. L. (2016). A war of keywords: How extremists are exploiting the internet and what to do about it. Center on Religion and Geopolitics. Retrieved January 27, 2022 from http://institute.global/sites/default/files/inline-files/IGC_War%20of%20Keywords_23.08.17_0.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Ahmed, R., & Pisoiu, D. (2021). Uniting the far right: How the far-right extremist, New Right, and populist frames overlap on Twitter – A German case study. European Societies, 23, 232–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2020.181811210.1080/14616696.2020.1818112Search in Google Scholar
Baltazar, N. C., Shutts, K., & Kinzler, K. D. (2012). Children show heightened memory for threatening social actions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 112, 102–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2011.11.00310.1016/j.jecp.2011.11.003Search in Google Scholar
Baugut, P., & Neumann, K. (2019). How right-wing extremists use and perceive news media. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 96, 696–720. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769901880308010.1177/1077699018803080Search in Google Scholar
Baugut, P., & Neumann, K. (2020a). Online propaganda use during Islamist radicalization. Information, Communication & Society, 23, 1570–1592. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.159433310.1080/1369118X.2019.1594333Search in Google Scholar
Baugut, P., & Neumann, K. (2020b). Describing perceptions of media influence among radicalized individuals: The case of jihadists and non-violent Islamists. Political Communication, 37, 65–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2019.166332310.1080/10584609.2019.1663323Search in Google Scholar
Bécuwe, N., Goudet, S., & Tsoulos-Malakoudi, D. (2018). Survey report ‘European youth and adicalization leading to violence’: Analysis and recommendations for policy-making purposes. Retrieved January 25, 2022 from https://efus-network.eu/efus/files/2020/03/D2.3-Survey-PRACTICIES-PdfLIGHT1.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Beierlein, C., Asbrock, F., Kauff, M., & Schmidt, P. (2014). Die Kurzskala Autoritarismus (KSA-3): Ein ökonomisches Messinstrument zur Erfassung dreier Subdimensionen autoritärer Einstellungen [The Short Scale of Authoritarianism (KSA-3): An economic measurement instrument to capture three sub-dimensions of authoritarian attitudes]. Retrieved January 25, 2022 from https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/42671/ssoar-2014-beierlein_et_al-Die_Kurzskala_Autoritarismus_KSA-3_Ein.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Bouko, C., Naderer, B., Rieger, D., Van Ostaeyen, P., & Voué, P. (2021). Discourse patterns used by extremist Salafists on Facebook: Identifying potential triggers to cognitive biases in radicalized content. Critical Discourse Studies, online first, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2021.187918510.1080/17405904.2021.1879185Search in Google Scholar
Brauer, M. (2001). Intergroup perception in the social context: The effects of social status and group membership on perceived out-group homogeneity and ethnocentrism. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 15–31. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.2000.143210.1006/jesp.2000.1432Search in Google Scholar
Cacioppo, J. T., Von Hippel, W., & Ernst, J. M. (1997). Mapping cognitive structures and processes through verbal content: The thought-listing technique. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 928–940.10.1037//0022-006X.65.6.928Search in Google Scholar
Crowson, H. M. (2009). Predicting perceptions of symbolic and realistic threat from terrorists: The role of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. Individual Differences Research, 7, 113–118.Search in Google Scholar
Crowson, H. M., & Thoma, S. J. (2006). The role of authoritarianism, perceived threat and need for closure or structure in predicting post-9/11 attitudes and beliefs. The Journal of Social Psychology, 146, 733–750. https://doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.146.6.733-75010.3200/SOCP.146.6.733-750Search in Google Scholar
Doosje, B., Moghaddam, F. M., Kruglanski, A. W., De Wolf, A., Mann, L., & Feddes, A. R. (2016). Terrorism, radicalization and de-radicalization. Current Opinion in Psychology, 11, 79–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.06.00810.1016/j.copsyc.2016.06.008Search in Google Scholar
Duckitt, J., & Bizumic, B. (2013). Multidimensionality of right-wing authoritarian attitudes: Authoritarianism-conservatism-traditionalism. Political Psychology, 34, 841–862. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.1202210.1111/pops.12022Search in Google Scholar
Ehrlinger, J., Readinger, W. O., & Kim, B. (2016). Decision-making and cognitive biases. Encyclopedia of Mental Health, 12. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-397045-9.00206-810.1016/B978-0-12-397045-9.00206-8Search in Google Scholar
Engesser, S., Ernst, N., Esser, F., & Büchel, F. (2017). Populism and social media: How politicians spread a fragmented ideology. Information, Communication & Society, 20, 1109–1126. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.120769710.1080/1369118X.2016.1207697Search in Google Scholar
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.10.1515/9781503620766Search in Google Scholar
Fournier, P., Soroka, S., & Nir, L. (2020). Negativity biases and political ideology: A comparative test across 17 countries. American Political Science Review, 114, 775–791. https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305542000013110.1017/S0003055420000131Search in Google Scholar
Frischlich, L. (2021). #Dark inspiration: Eudaimonic entertainment in extremist Instagram posts. New Media & Society, 23, 554–577. https://doi.org/10.1177/146144481989962510.1177/1461444819899625Search in Google Scholar
Frischlich, L., Rieger, D., Hein, M., & Bente, G. (2015). Dying the right-way? Interest in and perceived persuasiveness of parochial extremist propaganda increases after mortality salience. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1222. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.0122210.3389/fpsyg.2015.01222Search in Google Scholar
Frischlich, L., Rieger, D., Morten, A., & Bente, G. (2018). The power of a good story: Narrative persuasion in extremist propaganda and videos against violent extremism. International Journal of Conflict and Violence (IJCV), 12, a644-a644. https://doi.org/10.4119/ijcv-3106Search in Google Scholar
Furnham, A. (1983). Attitudes toward the unemployed receiving social security benefits. Human Relations, 36, 135–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267830360020410.1177/001872678303600204Search in Google Scholar
Gadarian, S. K., & Albertson, B. (2014). Anxiety, immigration, and the search for information. Political Psychology, 35, 133–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.1203410.1111/pops.12034Search in Google Scholar
Giddens, L., & Petter, S. (2020). “They deserved it”: Using the just-world hypothesis to understand blaming, apathy, and support on social media. In Proceedings of the 53rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, January, 5911–5920. https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2020.72410.24251/HICSS.2020.724Search in Google Scholar
Goodman, S., & Carr, P. (2017). The just-world hypothesis as an argumentative resource in debates about unemployment benefits. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 27, 312–323. https://doi.org/10.1177/095679761453143910.1002/casp.2314Search in Google Scholar
Grzesiak-Feldman, M. (2013). The effect of high-anxiety situations on conspiracy thinking. Current Psychology, 32, 100–118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-013-9165-610.1007/s12144-013-9165-6Search in Google Scholar
Halverson, J., Corman, S., & Goodall, H. L. (2011). Master narratives of Islamist extremism. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1007/978-0-230-11723-5Search in Google Scholar
Harber, K. D., Podolski, P., & Williams, C. H. (2015). Emotional disclosure and victim blaming. Emotion, 15, 603–614. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo000005610.1037/emo0000056Search in Google Scholar
Haselton, M. G., & Nettle, D. (2006). The paranoid optimist: An integrative evolutionary model of cognitive biases. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 47–66. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr1001_310.1207/s15327957pspr1001_3Search in Google Scholar
Haselton, M. G., Nettle, D., & Murray, D. R. (2015). The evolution of cognitive bias. In D. M. Buss (Ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology (pp. 1–20). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.10.1002/9781119125563.evpsych241Search in Google Scholar
Hassan, G., Brouillette-Alarie, S., Alava, S., Frau-Meigs, D., Lavoie, L., Fetiu, A., …, & Sieckelinck, S. (2018). Exposure to extremist online content could lead to violent radicalization: A systematic review of empirical evidence. International Journal of Developmental Science, 12, 71–88. https://doi.org/10.3233/DEV-17023310.3233/DEV-170233Search in Google Scholar
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford PressSearch in Google Scholar
Jensen, M. A., Atwell Seate, A., & James, P. A. (2018). Radicalization to violence: A pathway approach to studying extremism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 5, 1067–1090. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2018.144233010.1080/09546553.2018.1442330Search in Google Scholar
Kallis, A. (2013). Breaking taboos and ‘mainstreaming the extreme’: The debates on restricting Islamic symbols in contemporary Europe (pp. 55–70). In R. Wrodak, M. KhosraviNik, & B. Mral (Eds.), Right-wing populism in Europe: Politics and discourse. London, UK: Bloomsbury.10.5040/9781472544940.ch-004Search in Google Scholar
King, M., & Taylor, D. M. (2011). The radicalization of homegrown jihadists: A review of theoretical models and social psychological evidence. Terrorism and Political Violence, 23, 602–622. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2011.58706410.1080/09546553.2011.587064Search in Google Scholar
Knobloch-Westerwick, S., Mothes, C., & Polavin, N. (2020). Confirmation bias, ingroup bias, and negativity bias in selective exposure to political information. Communication Research, 47, 104–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/009365021771959610.1177/0093650217719596Search in Google Scholar
Lee, J. K., Choi, J., Kim, C., & Kim, Y. (2014). Social media network heterogeneity and opinion polarization. Journal of Communication, 64, 702–722. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.1207710.1111/jcom.12077Search in Google Scholar
Lerner, M. J., & Miller, D. T. (1978). Just world research and the attribution process: Looking back and ahead. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 1030–1051. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.85.5.103010.1037//0033-2909.85.5.1030Search in Google Scholar
Lipkus, I. (1991). The construction and preliminary validation of a global belief in a just world scale and the exploratory analysis of the multidimensional belief in a just world scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 1171–1178. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(91)90081-L10.1016/0191-8869(91)90081-LSearch in Google Scholar
Ludeke, S. G., Klitgaard, C. N., & Vitriol, J. (2018). Comprehensively-measured authoritarianism does predict vote choice: The importance of authoritarianism’s facets, ideological sorting, and the particular candidate. Personality and Individual Differences, 123, 209–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.11.01910.1016/j.paid.2017.11.019Search in Google Scholar
Mudde, C. (2004). The populist zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39, 541–563. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.2004.00135.x10.1111/j.1477-7053.2004.00135.xSearch in Google Scholar
Muddiman, A., & Stroud, N. J. (2017). News values, cognitive biases and partisan incivility in comment sections. Journal of Communication, 67, 586–609. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.1231210.1111/jcom.12312Search in Google Scholar
Newman, T. P., Nisbet, E. C., & Nisbet, M. C. (2018). Climate change, cultural cognition, and media effects: Worldviews drive news selectivity, biased processing, and polarized attitudes. Public Understanding of Science, 27, 985–1002. https://doi.org/10.1177/096366251880117010.1177/0963662518801170Search in Google Scholar
Nienierza, A., Reinemann, C., Fawzi, N., Riesmeyer, C., & Neumann, K. (2021). Too dark to see? Explaining adolescents’ contact with online extremism and their ability to recognize it. Information, Communication & Society, 24(9), 1229–1246. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.169733910.1080/1369118X.2019.1697339Search in Google Scholar
RAN (2020). Violent right-wing extremism in focus. Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN). Retrieved January 27, 2022 from https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/networks/radicalisation_awareness_network/docs/ran_brochure_violent_right_wing_extremism_in_focus_en.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Ribeiro, M. H., Ottoni, R., West, R., Almeida, V. A., & Meira Jr, W. (2020, January). Auditing radicalization pathways on Youtube. In Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (pp. 131–141).10.1145/3351095.3372879Search in Google Scholar
Rieger, D., Frischlich, L., & Bente, G. (2013). Propaganda 2.0: Psychological effects of right-wing and Islamic extremist internet videos. Luchterhand Verlag.Search in Google Scholar
Rieger, D., Frischlich, L., & Bente, G. (2017). Propaganda in an insecure, unstructured world: The effects of authoritarianism and uncertainty on the evaluation of right-wing extremist propaganda. Journal for Deradicalization, 10, 203–229.Search in Google Scholar
Rieger, D., Frischlich, L., & Bente, G. (2019). Dealing with the dark side: The effects of right-wing extremist and Islamist extremist propaganda from a social identity perspective. Media, War & Conflict, 13, 280–2999. https://doi.org/10.1177/175063521982916510.1177/1750635219829165Search in Google Scholar
Rozin, P., & Royzman, E. B. (2001). Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 296–320. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0504_210.1207/S15327957PSPR0504_2Search in Google Scholar
Scheller, S. (2019). The strategic use of fear appeals in political communication. Political Communication, 36, 586–608. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2019.163191810.1080/10584609.2019.1631918Search in Google Scholar
Schmitt, J. B., Rieger, D., Rutkowski, O., & Ernst, J. (2018). Counter-messages as prevention or promotion of extremism?! The potential role of YouTube: Recommendation algorithms. Journal of Communication, 68, 780–808. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqy02910.1093/joc/jqy029Search in Google Scholar
Soroka, S., & McAdams, S. (2015). News, politics, and negativity. Political Communication, 32, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2014.88194210.1080/10584609.2014.881942Search in Google Scholar
Stroud, N. J. (2010). Polarization and partisan selective exposure. Journal of Communication, 60, 556–576. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01497.x10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01497.xSearch in Google Scholar
Stellmacher, J., & Petzel, T. (2005). Authoritarianism as a group phenomenon. Political Psychology, 26, 245–274. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2005.00417.x10.1111/j.1467-9221.2005.00417.xSearch in Google Scholar
Strelan, P. (2007). The prosocial, adaptive qualities of just world beliefs: Implications for the relationship between justice and forgiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 881–890. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.02.01510.1016/j.paid.2007.02.015Search in Google Scholar
Thompson, R. (2011). Radicalization and the use of social media. Journal of Strategic Security, 4, 167–190. http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.4.4.810.5038/1944-0472.4.4.8Search in Google Scholar
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185, 1121–1131. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.185.4157.112410.1126/science.185.4157.1124Search in Google Scholar
Valentini, D., Lorusso, A. M., & Stephan, A. (2020). Onlife extremism: Dynamic integration of digital and physical spaces in radicalization. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.0052410.3389/fpsyg.2020.00524Search in Google Scholar
van den Bos, K., & Maas, M. (2009). On the psychology of the belief in a just world: Exploring experiential and rationalistic paths to victim blaming. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1567–1578. https://doi.org/10.1177/014616720934462810.1177/0146167209344628Search in Google Scholar
Verkuyten, M. (2007). Ethnic in‐group favoritism among minority and majority groups: Testing the self‐esteem hypothesis among preadolescents. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37, 486–500. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00170.x10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00170.xSearch in Google Scholar
Widmann, T. (2021). How emotional are populists really? Factors explaining emotional appeals in the communication of political parties. Political Psychology, 42, 163–181. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.1269310.1111/pops.12693Search in Google Scholar
Wojcieszak, M. (2009). “Carrying online participation offline” – Mobilization by radical online groups and politically dissimilar offline ties. Journal of Communication, 59, 564–586. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01436.x10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01436.xSearch in Google Scholar
Wojcieszak, M. (2010). ‘Don’t talk to me’: Effects of ideologically homogeneous online groups and politically dissimilar offline ties on extremism. New Media & Society, 12, 637–655. https://doi.org/10.1177/146144480934277510.1177/1461444809342775Search in Google Scholar
Wood, M. J., & Gray, D. (2019). Right-wing authoritarianism as a predictor of pro-establishment versus anti-establishment conspiracy theories. Personality and Individual Differences, 138, 163–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.09.03610.1016/j.paid.2018.09.036Search in Google Scholar
Zillmann, D., Chen, L., Knobloch, S., & Callison, C. (2004). Effects of lead framing on selective exposure to internet news reports. Communication Research, 31, 58–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/009365020326020110.1177/0093650203260201Search in Google Scholar
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston