Opinion Formation Research Articles

Differences in News Reports in Chinese and American Media: Taking the Tangshan Barbecue Restaurant Event as a Case Study

This article uses the Tangshan Barbecue Restaurant incident as a case study to examine the factors influencing the reaction to popular events in the narrative language of Chinese and American media. Through a literature review and content analysis, the study compares the differences in narration, including the use of vocabulary and expressions, interpretation methods, and reception between Chinese and American media. The findings indicate that political and cultural factors, interest orientations, and values, as well as the media market and communication environments, influence the narrative language of Chinese and American media. Furthermore, the language used in Chinese and American media narratives also affects public reactions and the formation of public opinion. This study provides important references and insights to deepen understanding of the differences in media narratives between China and the United States, and to promote cross-cultural communication.

Phase Diagram for Social Impact Theory in Initially Fully Differentiated Society

The study of opinion formation and dynamics is one of the core topics in sociophysics. In this paper, the results of computer simulation of opinion dynamics based on social impact theory are presented. The simulations are based on Latané theory in its computerised version proposed by Nowak, Szamrej and Latané. The active parameters of the model describe the volatility of the actors (social temperature T) and the effective range of interaction (governed by an exponent α in a scaling function of distance between actors). Initially, every actor i has his/her own opinion. Our results indicate that ultimately at least 90% of the initial opinions available are removed from the society. For a low social temperature and a long range of interaction, only one opinion survives. Also, a rough sketch of the system phase diagram is presented. It indicates a set of (α,T) leading either to (1) the dominance of the unanimity of the opinions or (2) mixtures of unanimity and polarisation, or (3) taking random opinions by actors, or (4) a mixture of the final fates of the systems. The drastic reduction of finally observed opinions vs. their initial variety may be generic for many sociophysical models of opinions formation but masked by assuming an initially small pool of available opinions (in the worst case, in models with only binary opinions).

The impact of cultural elite on public opinion formation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

The intellectual elite has an important position and a great interest in all societies, especially in the integrated societies and the developed societies globally, they are told the mind of society, and for this reason, this research is entitled (the influence of the intellectual elite on public opinion in the Kurdistan region- Iraq), this research is an attempt to define the intellectual elite in general and the intellectual elite in Kurdistan region in particular. The researcher wants to point out that the national duty and responsibility falls on these elite at different stage. Therefore, the aim of research is to determine the role, influence and interest of these elite on the Kurdish society, and also wants to determine the level of influence and ability of these elite on public opinion. At the same time, it tried to identify and clarify all the obstacles that have become an obstacle to these elite and the reasons for reducing their efficiency and activity in Kurdish society.To answer the research questions, the researcher used a descriptive and analytical method, the descriptive method use to introduce the concepts and terms used in the research, as well as the analytical method for analyzing the acquired information. It is clear that the research community is Kurdistan region. In addition to the written and available sources, the researcher benefited from intellectuals and university professors by meeting with them, and here he reached to an conclusion : that the intellectual elite in Kurdistan region was not able to be at all required level in bad conditions, crises, political and social problems by affecting public opinion and proving its impact. On the one hand, this is a subjective reason and belongs to the Kurdish intellectuals themselves, and on the other hand, the political environment of the region is not an appropriate environment.

Audience Democracy 2.0: Re-Depersonalizing Politics in the Digital Age

Abstract This paper aims to explore the changes that representative democracy is experiencing as a result of the transformation of communication channels. In particular, it focuses on non-electoral representation in the form of movements that emerged throughout the 2010s and that were defined by a strong social media presence (e.g. Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Yellow Vests). Despite not attempting to gain political power via elections, these movements, through online and offline activities, nonetheless managed to shape the realm of politics. The paper thus analyzes the movements’ inner representative dynamics and the ways they reshape representative democracy. It engages with a critical reading of Hanna Pitkin’s concept of symbolic representation and draws on Michael Saward’s framework of the representative claim to reevaluate Bernard Manin’s notion of “audience” democracy as today’s form of representative government. The argument is that, as digital development provides citizens with less demanding modes of political participation and platforms of representative claim-making, it enhances the sphere of opinion formation and the role of non-electoral representation. This sphere entails a tendency towards a re-depersonalization of politics, thus leading towards the transformation of “audience” democracy.

Conformity versus credibility: A coupled rumor-belief model

The opinion individuals hold about circulating information moderates their spreading behavior, as they may choose to spread rumors they believe in and remain silent about those they do not. Meanwhile, these opinions may be influenced by peers’ opinions and observed behaviors. We present coupled dynamics that integrate opinion formation and information spreading within two-layer multiplex social networks. In an influence layer, opinions are shaped by information credibility and social influence, the degree of which is determined by individual tendencies to conform. In a communication layer, information spreads conditioned on whether individuals believe in it. Using analytical and numerical tools, we demonstrate consistent behavior of the model by identifying the criteria for an evolutionary advantage in opinion formation and a critical spreading rate for rumor outbreaks. We then proceeded to examine two scenarios distinguished by considering credibility as either an intrinsic or a social property of information. Our results show that, for intrinsic credibility, higher degrees of conformity promote the spread of incredible information and inhibit the diffusion of credible information; for social credibility, higher degrees of conformity have an amplifying effect on the evolution of belief and rumor spreading. Additionally, the former scenario exhibits rich behaviors in the interplay between opinion evolution and information spreading, including paradigm shift, passive support, and fringe belief. We thus contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of opinion formation and information propagation in social groups. Empirical application may inform efforts to assess and combat the spread of misinformation.

Social Media Use and Opinion Change Among Abia State University Students: Evidence from Experiential Data

The evolution of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., has changed the way we look at and do things, act, and expand our opinion formation and change. There are some ways in which social media can produce opinion change, influencing people’s attitudes and behaviours. The platform has become the substrate of our social interactions, and this ultimately leads to an influence on opinion formation and change. The study aims at determining social media use and opinion change among students of ABSU. Apart from finding out the exposure level of ABSU students to social media platforms, used in information sharing and exchanges, the study also specifically aims at checking if exposure to social media posts influences the opinion of students of ABSU. Anchored on the framework of Technological Determinism Theory, this study adopted the descriptive research design. Accordingly, the survey research method was adopted to address our research objectives. This study surveyed undergraduate students of Abia State University Uturu in the 2021/2022 academic session. The target population of the study is 10,062 students in randomly selected Faculties, according to information obtained from the Admissions Office. A sample of 355 was drawn using the Wimmer and Dominick Sample Size Calculator for the research population. The researcher adopted a questionnaire as the only measuring instrument in this study because of the nature of the study and the research method (Survey). Test statistics reveal that opinion change on issues among students of ABSU is highly dependent on exposure to posts on social media

Staged Beefing in the Music Industry in Ghana: Perspectives of Selected Entertainment Bloggers and Music Artistes

This study explores staged beefing in the music industry for entertainment bloggers and music artists in Ghana. This qualitative case study focuses on capturing detailed information from participants using structured interviews. Through a purposive selection technique, ten participants were chosen and interviewed to learn about their personal experiences with the phenomena of staged beefing in the music industry and its ramifications for both bloggers and musicians. The participants' responses were analysed using the thematic analysis approach, which was based on Agenda Setting and Framing Theory. Participants identified implications of staged beefing to both bloggers and musicians as fake feuds, collaboration, and controversy, monetary gains, and clout. The data capture that some musicians and entertainment bloggers collaborate to create ‘fake’ feuding scenarios and that the phenomenon of ‘fake feuds’ is real event that happen. The result also shows that entertainment bloggers and musicians present information in such a way as to market the artiste and connect with the audiences during the process of opinion formation, which subsequently influences attitudes and behaviours. Based on the outcome of the interview, supported by the literature it became obvious that both bloggers and musicians who consent to create fake feuds do so to promote their brand visibility and relevance to attract large corporations for endorsement deals and or boost sales of their music

Bounded confidence opinion dynamics: A survey

At the beginning of this century, Hegselmann and Krause proposed a dynamical model for opinion formation that is referred to as the Bounded Confidence Opinion Dynamics (BCOD) model and that has since attracted a wide interest from different research communities. The model can be viewed as a dynamic network, in which each agent is endowed with a state variable representing an opinion and two agents interact if the distance between their opinions does not exceed a constant confidence bound. This relation of instantaneous proximity between the opinions naturally induces a dynamic interaction graph. At each stage of the opinion iteration, all agents synchronously update their opinion to the average of all opinions that belong to the neighbors in the interaction graph.BCOD models exhibit a broad variety of phenomena that cannot be studied by traditional methods, and their analysis has enriched the systems and control field with a number of novel mathematical tools. This fact, together with the existence of an extensive literature on the topic scattered across different fields, calls for a systematic presentation of the existing results on this class of dynamic networks. The aim of this survey is to provide an overview of BCOD models with time-synchronous interactions, with possibly asymmetric and heterogeneous confidence bounds. Conditions on the different classes of BCOD which ensure the convergence (in finite time or asymptotically) of the opinions are discussed, and the possible structures of the terminal opinions are described. The numerous phenomena highlighted in the literature from numerical studies, e.g., the characterization of steady state behaviors and the sensitivity to confidence thresholds, are also reviewed. Finally, some recent modifications and applications of BCOD models are discussed, and suggestions of directions for future research are provided.

Modeling opinion polarization on social media: Application to Covid-19 vaccination hesitancy in Italy.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic reminded us how vaccination can be a divisive topic on which the public conversation is permeated by misleading claims, and thoughts tend to polarize, especially on online social networks. In this work, motivated by recent natural language processing techniques to systematically extract and quantify opinions from text messages, we present a differential framework for bivariate opinion formation dynamics that is coupled with a compartmental model for fake news dissemination. Thanks to a mean-field analysis we demonstrate that the resulting Fokker-Planck system permits to reproduce bimodal distributions of opinions as observed in polarization dynamics. The model is then applied to sentiment analysis data from social media platforms in Italy, in order to analyze the evolution of opinions about Covid-19 vaccination. We show through numerical simulations that the model is capable to describe correctly the formation of the bimodal opinion structure observed in the vaccine-hesitant dataset, which is witness of the known polarization effects that happen within closed online communities.

The Impact of Extreme Precipitation Events and Their Variability on Climate Change Beliefs in the American Public

Abstract Although scientists agree that climate change is anthropogenic, differing interpretations of evidence in a highly polarized sociopolitical environment impact how individuals perceive climate change. While prior work suggests that individuals experience climate change through local conditions, there is a lack of consensus on how personal experience with extreme precipitation may alter public opinion on climate change. We combine high-resolution precipitation data at the zip-code level with nationally representative public opinion survey results (n = 4008) that examine beliefs in climate change and the perceived cause. Our findings support relationships between well-established value systems (i.e., partisanship, religion) and socioeconomic status with individual opinions of climate change, showing that these values are influential in opinion formation on climate issues. We also show that experiencing characteristics of atypical precipitation (e.g., more variability than normal, increasing or decreasing trends, or highly recurring extreme events) in a local area are associated with increased belief in anthropogenic climate change. This suggests that individuals in communities that experience greater atypical precipitation may be more accepting of messaging and policy strategies directly aimed at addressing climate change challenges. Thus, communication strategies that leverage individual perception of atypical precipitation at the local level may help tap into certain “experiential” processing methods, making climate change feel less distant. These strategies may help reduce polarization and motivate mitigation and adaptation actions. Significance Statement Public acceptance for anthropogenic climate change is hindered by how related issues are presented, diverse value systems, and information-processing biases. Personal experiences with extreme weather may act as a salient cue that impacts individuals’ perceptions of climate change. We couple a large, nationally representative public opinion dataset with station precipitation data at the zip-code level in the United States. Results are nuanced but suggest that anomalous and variable precipitation in a local area may be interpreted as evidence for anthropogenic climate change. So, relating atypical local precipitation conditions to climate change may help tap into individuals’ experiential processing, sidestep polarization, and tailor communications at the local level.

Digital journalism and the role of social media in shaping public perception of Russian aggression in Ukraine

The purpose of the article is to study the role of digital journalism and social media in creating public perception of Russian aggression in Ukraine. To achieve this goal, theoretical general scientific research methods were used: analysis and synthesis. The use of the content analysis method to study the content of messages on social media and Internet platforms, the use of a descriptive qualitative approach combined with discourse analysis and language reconstruction became relevant. The results of the study indicate that among the obvious advantages of online journalism are a variety of information sources, the ability to disseminate news quickly, interaction with the audience, global reach, and open access to information. In addition, in the Ukrainian context, coordinated efforts have effectively raised the visibility of Ukraine's current needs in search engines, which has contributed to their resolution. However, it should also be recognised that online journalism has its drawbacks. The manipulation and spread of fake news used by Russian propaganda has highlighted the vulnerability of this form of journalism. The scale and intensity of Russian propaganda had a significant impact on the formation of public opinion among Russians and partly among foreigners. They began to use imposed narratives to understand Russian aggression and the role of other countries in the conflict. The conclusions emphasise that these trends underline the importance of the theory of use and gratification, which indicates that audiences have their own views on information sources and are influenced by them according to their own beliefs.

The theory of the public sphere as a cognitive theory of modern society

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere is a key contribution to political philosophy, media history, democratic theory and political economy – published almost 60 years ago – that left a deep imprint on the process of democratic consolidation of the Federal Republic of Germany. At the same time, the Habermasian model of the public sphere was used to test out the possibilities of democratisation beyond the nation-state. The theory of the public sphere was, however, mainly discussed as a contribution to normative political theory and, as such, the applicability of its normative standards remained contested. In this article, I focus instead on a second sociological reading of Habermas’ theory of the public sphere as an exploration of the cognitive foundations of modern society. The relevance of this approach can be shown in an exemplary way by discussing the functioning of publicity, which, by creating social visibility and facilitating public opinion formation, on the one hand, provides the knowledge base of a shared social world and, on the other hand, becomes the main driver of social change through critical self-reflection. The article goes on to take a look at recent public sphere transformations in the context of digitalisation and globalisation, and argues that public sphere principles are both undermined and gain new relevance when facing the challenges of new and digital media.

Formation of love for words as the basis for educating a prospective journalist

The article discusses topical issues of the focus of the educational process at a higher educational institution on the formation of such personality qualities as patriotism, pride in the achievements of one’s people, and sensitivity to the native language, which is crucial for students of such a major as Journalism. It is the media that largely contribute to the formation of public opinion, therefore, in our opinion, professionals in this type of activity should have high morality, decency, and moral principles. All these qualities are formed in different ways, including through love for their mother tongue.

The Symphony That Conquered the World: Diplomatic Support of the Foreign Premiere of D. D. Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in 1942–1943

This article analyses the plots of international life concerning the premieres of D. D. Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony outside the USSR, their preparation, and their effect on the political establishment, the humanitarian elite, and ordinary listeners in 1942–1943. The competition of outstanding conductors such as A. Toscanini, L. Stokowski, H. Wood, S. Koussevitzky, etc. for getting the right of the Western premiere, the correspondence with them of the composer himself, the formation of public opinion, and, finally, the episode associated with Shostakovich’s failed trip to the US in 1942, make it possible to significantly complement the retrospective picture of the “journey” of Symphony No. 7 around Europe and the US. The documents the author refers to focus on the socio-political results of the process of presenting a work that “contributes to the support of the unyielding spirit underlying our common hopes for ultimate victory” and “expresses the power of Russia in a way that words can never do” to the West and the role of the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs in it, encouraging reflections on the role of Art in the world at war. They make it possible not only to trace the chronology of the diplomatic “accompaniment” of the premieres of the Leningrad Symphony in the West in 1942–1943, but also to see who “conducted” its truly victorious sounding not only in the allied countries but also in neutral states. This article uses documents from the Archive of Russian Foreign Policy concerning the performance of the Leningrad Symphony outside the USSR, which have never been introduced into scholarly circulation previously.

On evolving network models and their influence on opinion formation

In this paper, we propose a new model for continuous time opinion dynamics on an evolving network. As opposed to existing models, in which the network typically evolves by discretely adding or removing edges, we instead propose a model for opinion formation which is coupled to a network evolving through a system of ordinary differential equations for the edge weights. We interpret each edge weight as the strength of the relationship between a pair of individuals, with edges increasing in weight if pairs continually listen to each other’s opinions and decreasing if not. We investigate the impact of various edge dynamics at different timescales on the opinion dynamics itself. This is done partly through analytic results and partly through extensive numerical simulations of two case studies: one using bounded confidence interaction dynamics in the opinion formation process (as in the classical Hegselmann–Krause model) and one using an exponentially decaying interaction function. We find that the dynamic edge weights can have a significant impact on the opinion formation process, since they may result in consensus formation but can also reinforce polarisation. Overall, the proposed modelling approach allows us to quantify and investigate how the network and opinion dynamics influence each other.

Impact of Social Media on Political Discourse and Shaping Public Opinion: A Comprehensive Study on the Students of Dibrugarh University

Social media is mainly a collective form of websites and applications that emphasize communication, engagement, content sharing, and collaboration. People mainly use it to communicate and engage with friends, family, and different communities, whereas businesses use social media to track consumer issues, market their products, and promote them. But apart from these clear views of the uses of social media, it has a greater impact on political discourse, moulding public opinions, and ultimately influencing voting behavior. The objective of this study is to offer a thorough analysis of the influence of social media on political discourse and the formation of public opinion. The study is conducted on the under-graduate students, post-graduate students, and research scholars of Dibrugarh University in order to analyse the students’ perceptions of the impact of social media on political discourse and public opinion formation. The study employed a questionnaire as a method and tool of data collection. The study investigates the extent of the use of social media for political purposes, the perception of its impact on political discourse, its impact on polarization and echo chambers, and their ultimate impact on voting behavior.

Prospects of BRICS currency dominance in international trade

During the April 2023 Brazil–China summit, the creation of a trade currency supported by the BRICS countries was proposed. Using the United Nations Comtrade database, providing the frame of the world trade network associated to 194 UN countries during the decade 2010–2020, we study a mathematical model of influence battle of three currencies, namely, the US dollar, the euro, and such a hypothetical BRICS currency. In this model, a country trade preference for one of the three currencies is determined by a multiplicative factor based on trade flows between countries and their relative weights in the global international trade. The three currency seed groups are formed by 9 eurozone countries for the euro, 5 Anglo-Saxon countries for the US dollar and the 5 BRICS countries for the new proposed currency. The countries belonging to these 3 currency seed groups trade only with their own associated currency whereas the other countries choose their preferred trade currency as a function of the trade relations with their commercial partners. The trade currency preferences of countries are determined on the basis of a Monte Carlo modeling of Ising type interactions in magnetic spin systems commonly used to model opinion formation in social networks. We adapt here these models to the world trade network analysis. The results obtained from our mathematical modeling of the structure of the global trade network show that as early as 2012 about 58% of countries would have preferred to trade with the BRICS currency, 23% with the euro and 19% with the US dollar. Our results announce favorable prospects for a dominance of the BRICS currency in international trade, if only trade relations are taken into account, whereas political and other aspects are neglected.

Ghana’s democracy and the digital public sphere: some pertinent issues

Ghana’s media has been one of the biggest bulwarks of its nascent democracy since the transition to democratic rule in 1992. What has become known as the Fourth Estate of the Realm is now gradually being digitally networked as a result of the emergence of new media technologies. Using existing data mostly from media think-tanks such as Penplusbytes, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), media and other online sources, this paper appraises the role of digital media in the process of consolidating Ghana’s democracy under the Fourth Republican Constitution within the lens of Habermas’ concept of the public sphere. The study focuses on the 2016 and 2020 general elections of Ghana and analyses the influence of digital media in strengthening democratic values such as political participation, activism and public opinion formation. We conclude that the Habermasian model of the structural transformation of the public sphere (1962) is partly applicable to the Ghanaian media landscape. Although challenges such as the elite stranglehold on the traditional media landscape have been widespread since the beginning of the political transition in 1992, the emergence of the new media has brought new and complex dimensions to the debate. Specifically, while new media platforms have made immense contributions towards enhancing a general liberal environment, they suffer from several drawbacks such as unequal participation and lack of uniformity in public deliberations, with elites and other powerful social and economic actors generally holding sway. The phenomenon of fake news, online disinformation, the issue of digital divide, creeping state repression and COVID-19 restrictions during the 2020 election period have all combined to hamstring the Ghanaian new media which is currently at the center of a seemingly endless process of structural transformation.

Securitization of Migration After Russia's Military Invasion of Ukraine

This paper aims to explain how the Slovak public perceived migrants coming to Slovakia from Ukraine after the outbreak of the war. Like other countries neighbouring Ukraine, Slovak state institutions have had to deal with issues related to the migration of Ukrainian refugees. In addition to spontaneous aid, negative attitudes towards refugees have also appeared in the public debate since the beginning of the war. Using the method of discourse analysis, this paper examines the formation of opinions on Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia since February 24, 2022. This paper confirms that, as in 2015 and 2016, during the debate on the migration situation, opinions about refugees as a potential threat to the domestic population continued to emerge. These negative messages were mainly presented by representatives of the far right and far left, who are usually characterised by a positive attitude towards Russia and a negative attitude towards the US.

Opinion Formation in Online Public Debates Structured in Information Cascades: A System-Theoretic Viewpoint

Online information cascades (tree-like structures formed by posts, comments, likes, replies, etc.) constitute the spine of the public online information environment, reflecting its various trends, evolving with it and, importantly, affecting its development. While users participate in online discussions, they display their views and thus contribute to the growth of cascades. At the same time, users’ opinions are influenced by cascades’ elements. The current paper aims to advance our knowledge regarding these social processes by developing an agent-based model in which agents participate in a discussion around a post on the Internet. Agents display their opinions by writing comments on the post and liking them (i.e., leaving positive assessments). The result of these processes is dual: on the one hand, agents develop an information cascade; on the other hand, they update their views. Our purpose is to understand how agents’ activity, openness to influence, and cognitive constraints (that condition the amount of information individuals are able to proceed with) affect opinion dynamics in a three-party society. More precisely, we are interested in what opinion will dominate in the long run and how this is moderated by the aforementioned factors, the social contagion effect (when people’ perception of a message may depend not only on the message’s opinion, but also on how other individuals perceive this object, with more positive evaluations increasing the probability of adoption), and ranking algorithms that steer the order in which agents learn new messages. Among other things, we demonstrated that replies to disagreeable opinions are extremely effective for promoting your own position. In contrast, various forms of like activity have a tiny effect on this issue.