Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hohpublica.uni-hohenheim.de/handle/123456789/26

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From QAnon to the climate change hoax: using 'Moral Politics Theory' to explain conspiracy mentality among the ideological right
(2026) Elkmann, Janek; Schrimpf, Tobias
Research on conspiracy theories and predictors that explain susceptibility to believing in conspiracy theories (conspiracy mentality) has already led to a considerable body of academic contributions. Nevertheless, we see the necessity to continue working on higher-level frameworks that summarize and explain various of these predictors under one umbrella. Only focussing on individual correlates can certainly make well-founded statements about individual susceptibility to conspiracy theories, but cannot formulate a holistic explanation due to the supposed lack of connection between the predictors. This means that, for example, only very fragmentary recommendations can be derived for preventive concepts. The present research proposes a metatheoretical framework for conspiracy mentality based on 'Moral Politics Theory' (Lakoff, 2016). The central thesis of this paper is that conspiracy mentality can be understood as an inherent component of so-called 'Strict Father Morality', i.e. the conservative ideology in Moral Politics Theory. This not only has implications for research theory, but also concrete imperatives for action for socio-political actors.
Good News!
how reading valenced news articles influences positive distinctiveness and learning from news
(2016) Trepte, Sabine; Schmitt, Josephine B.; Dienlin, Tobias
International news articles often compare different countries, favoring one country over another. On the basis of this notion, we hypothesized that when people read international news articles favoring their own country over another, they would afterwards evaluate their country (in-group) better than the other country (out-group) – a tendency referred to as positive distinctiveness in social identity theory (SIT). We further hypothesized that when people read international news articles favoring their own country, they would afterwards have better knowledge of the news articles they read. An experiment with two groups (positive vs. negative articles in terms of participants’ own national identity) was conducted in Germany and the US (total N = 364). We found that when participants read positively valenced news articles, they afterwards showed more positive distinctiveness (e.g., U.S. students believed that the US had a better national educational system than Germany). We also found that when German participants read positively valenced news articles, they demonstrated better knowledge of the articles. This effect was not found in the U.S. sample. Overall, we found support for the notion that social identity mechanisms are relevant when it comes to analyzing the effects of news media.
How news audiences allocate trust in the digital age: A figuration perspective
(2024) Mangold, Frank; Bachl, Marko; Prochazka, Fabian
The article enriches the understanding of trust in news at a time when mass and interpersonal communication have merged in the digital sphere. We propose disentangling individual-level patterns of trust allocation (i.e., trust figurations ) across journalistic media, social media, and peers to reflect the multiplicity among modern news audiences. A latent class analysis of a representative survey among German young adults revealed four figurations: traditionalists, indifferentials, optimists, and cynics. Political characteristics and education corresponded with substantial heterogeneity in individuals’ trust in news sources, their inclination to differentiate between sources, and the ways of integrating trust in journalistic and non-journalistic sources.
A longitudinal analysis of the privacy paradox
(2021) Dienlin, Tobias; Masur, Philipp K; Trepte, Sabine
The privacy paradox states that people’s concerns about online privacy are unrelated to their online sharing of personal information. On the basis of a representative sample of the German population, which includes 1,403 respondents interviewed at three waves separated by 6 months, we investigate the privacy paradox from a longitudinal perspective. Using a cross-lagged panel model with random intercepts, we differentiate between-person relations from within-person effects. Results revealed that people who were more concerned about their online privacy than others also shared slightly less personal information and had substantially more negative attitudes toward information sharing (between-person level). People who were more concerned than usual also shared slightly less information than usual (within-person level). We found no long-term effects of privacy concerns on information sharing or attitudes 6 months later. The results provide further evidence against the privacy paradox, but more research is needed to better understand potential causal relations.
Mollen, Anne: Digital spaces of civic communication. The practices and interfaces of online commenting
(2021) Prochazka, Fabian
Response Item Network (ResIN): A network-based approach to explore attitude systems
(2024) Carpentras, Dino; Lueders, Adrian; Quayle, Michael
Belief network analysis (BNA) refers to a class of methods designed to detect and outline structural organizations of complex attitude systems. BNA can be used to analyze attitude-structures of abstract concepts such as ideologies, worldviews, and norm systems that inform how people perceive and navigate the world. The present manuscript presents a formal specification of the Response-Item Network (or ResIN), a new methodological approach that advances BNA in at least two important ways. First, ResIN allows for the detection of attitude asymmetries between different groups, improving the applicability and validity of BNA in research contexts that focus on intergroup differences and/or relationships. Second, ResIN’s networks include a spatial component that is directly connected to item response theory (IRT). This allows for access to latent space information in which each attitude (i.e. each response option across items in a survey) is positioned in relation to the core dimension(s) of group structure, revealing non-linearities and allowing for a more contextual and holistic interpretation of the attitudes network. To validate the effectiveness of ResIN, we develop a mathematical model and apply ResIN to both simulated and real data. Furthermore, we compare these results to existing methods of BNA and IRT. When used to analyze partisan belief-networks in the US-American political context, ResIN was able to reliably distinguish Democrat and Republican attitudes, even in highly asymmetrical attitude systems. These results demonstrate the utility of ResIN as a powerful tool for the analysis of complex attitude systems and contribute to the advancement of BNA.

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