Cambridge Disinformation Summit

These former conspiracy theory believers were deep down the rabbit hole. Here's what pulled them out Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Anna Kelsey-Sugg H/T: Cambridge Skeptics https://lnkd.in/eFb78YVU

Come & work with me University of Oxford Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford - I am looking for 2 Teaching Assistants for my course "Internet Technologies and Regulation". Exciting class on emergent tech incl AI, genAI & facial recognition. Apply now! Deadline: noon Friday 9th August 2024 https://lnkd.in/eV3kHZXK

Hate Speech Epidemic. The Dynamic Effects of Derogatory Language on Intergroup Relations and Political Radicalization Political Psychology Volume 41, Issue S1 p. 3-33, 2020 Michal Bilewicz Wiktor Soral Abstract Exposure to derogatory language about immigrants and minority groups leads to political radicalization and deteriorates intergroup relations. This article addresses the psychological processes responsible for these effects as well as those involved in hate-speech proliferation in contemporary societies and discusses the factors that constrain its growth. We propose that frequent exposure to hate speech has severe effects on emotional, behavioral, and normative levels. Exposure to hate speech results in empathy being replaced by intergroup contempt as a dominant response to others—it is both a motivator and a consequence of derogatory language. The increased presence of hate speech in one's environment creates a sense of a descriptive norm that allows outgroup derogation. This leads to the erosion of existing antidiscriminatory norms. Finally, through a process of desensitization, hate speech reduces people's ability to recognize the offensive character of such language. Based on empirical evidence from the fields of social psychology and psychology of emotion and aggression, we propose a model that explains the described processes, and we trace the dynamics of this model using an agent-based modeling approach. We show that the mechanisms potentially effective in constraining hate-speech proliferation (empathy, norms) are eroded by hate speech itself. We argue that through basic psychological dynamics, societies become more accepting of derogatory language and less accepting of immigrants, as well as religious, ethnic, and sexual minorities. https://lnkd.in/eWeHj8yy

How conspiracy theories and hate dominated social feeds after assassination attempt on Trump BBC News Marianna Spring https://lnkd.in/ecRwjh-s

Factors that contribute to conspiratorial beliefs, featuring UCSF Health Sciences Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Joe Pierre. https://lnkd.in/dbADVfbh

Everyone should read Kohut (1972) on “Narcissistic Rage,” as this U.S. election year unfolds. This will help people understand and prepare for the highly probable violence-inciting outbursts that are pending. The key, in my opinion, is to understand that there are NO INTRINSIC BOUNDARIES to the rage response. As Sam Antar has said in many class presentations, this type of person “considers your ethics and morality as weaknesses because they limit your behavior, but not [that of the malignant narcissist].” For those who abide by laws and ethical codes, it is a shock to try to internalize what is happening when someone breaches those boundaries. Processing this dissonance takes time and therefore affords a huge advantage to those in violation. It is important to internalize this dissonance now, to better predict what may happen and consider scenario planning under plausibly extreme conditions. This applies to business planning as well. Boards and executives should be discussing how to prepare for plausible dark-scenario systemic risks such as mass civil unrest, civil conflict, military draft, workforce polarization, workforce deportation, supply chain disruption, and stochastic terrorism. "Narcissistic rage occurs in many forms; they all share, however, a specific psychological flavor which gives them a distinct position within the wide realm of human aggressions. The need for revenge, for undoing a hurt by whatever means, and a deeply anchored, unrelenting compulsion in the pursuit of all these aims which gives no rest to those who have suffered a narcissistic injury—these are features which are characteristic for the phenomenon of narcissistic rage. In its typical forms there is utter disregard for reasonable limitations and a boundless wish to redress an injury and to obtain revenge. ...those who are in the grip of narcissistic rage show total lack of empathy toward the offender."

It's prime time for unverified conspiracy theories to run wild. New timely interview with USA TODAY's Daily News Show, The Excerpt, on #Foolproof, the psychology of why people share misinformation, & how to vaccinate citizens against it! https://lnkd.in/eqWbK5rw

"As a practical matter stochastic terrorism is an interactive process between a public speaker who may be a charismatic leader, one or more amplifying forces such as a media platform, and one or more ultimate receivers. The originator speaks out publicly and with hostility toward a selected outgroup or individual in order to advance a political or social goal. An unknown receiver takes it in and churns out anger, contempt or disgust, often mirroring the speaker’s hostility and combining it with his own fear and anxiety stoked by the speech; such negative emotions may be intentionally aroused by the speaker to prove the need for his leadership and generate feelings of imminent threat posed by the target of his rhetoric that will personally impact the persecuted receiver. The speaker may overtly declare the target to be a threat, or 'joke' about violent solutions to the shared problem represented by the target; violence is never explicitly suggested and plausible deniability remains intact. Social and news mass media outlets wittingly or unwittingly spread and amplify the message and its themes. Through repetition and saturation the target may be further degraded and dehumanized via attacks on the target’s personal attributes. Once he reaches a threshold for action, the receiver, unknown to the speaker, plans and executes an attack of violence against the targeted outgroup or individual. Afterward, the leader condemns the violence to a greater or lesser degree; or asserts a staunch law and order stance; or insists such random acts of violence are unpredictable and the responsibility of no one but the hands-on offender, or all three. This allows the speaker to avoid blame, even if the assertions themselves are unconvincing. While such an attack may defy statistical predictability, as is always the case in targeted violence, the likelihood of its occurrence is greatly increased by this public demonization process. ... In essence, it is often understood to be ideologically motivated violence against noncombatants, usually civilian populations, undertaken for the purpose of driving social or political change." Molly Amman, JD, CTM Reid Meloy, PhD At J. Reid Meloy, PhD, A Forensic Psych. Corp. https://lnkd.in/gZMdw_7k

"The modern stochastic model of terrorism is commonly traced to mathematician and risk analyst Gordon Woo. Simply put, Woo asserted that there was a quantifiable relationship between seemingly random acts of terrorism and the perpetuation of hateful rhetoric in public discourse, accompanied by catastrophising and fear generation in media sources. It is commonly understood of terrorism that it seeks publicity as a means of disseminating a particular political message to indirect targets. A stochastic model would say that this relationship with media is actually an observable feedback loop: terrorism generates media coverage and public debate regarding the ideological motivations of the shooter, which in turn inspires further terrorism. The greater quantity of media coverage, and thus widening political discussion to include fringe views, has a causational effect on the frequency of these seemingly random terror attacks. In a stochastic model, the political effect desired from an attack is creating a more conducive atmosphere for further, and more frequent, 'lone wolf' attacks. ... If we are to prevent attacks like this from occurring, traditional methods have proven insufficient. Policing is ill-equipped to deal with this style of threat, given the limited warning these attacks give off and the infeasibility of the large-scale surveillance necessary to monitor every individual encountering these online communities. Rather than attempting to counter individual attackers, focusing on countering the wider ideology surrounding these attacks should be prioritised. Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) is the term for counter-terror programs aimed at preventative community engagement as opposed to reactive and otherwise punitive measures. These programs have yielded positive results in countries like Germany and Norway in combatting white-nationalist groups, focusing on counselling, community deradicalization, and educational programs designed to counter harmful conspiracies."   Todd Morley https://lnkd.in/gG2bi44u

“Moments after former President Donald Trump was escorted off the stage after shots were fired at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, unfounded claims about the event swirled on major social media platforms. The posts, including some written by US politicians holding elected office, claimed without proof that President Joe Biden had ordered an apparent shooting at the rally. Others baselessly stated that the incident was staged, or circulated posts misidentifying the shooter. … On X, several politicians accused Biden or his campaign of being “directly” behind the apparent shooting, without providing evidence. Georgia Representative Mike Collins posted simply, “Joe Biden sent the orders,” while Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, a top contender for Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, wrote on X that the Biden campaign’s rhetoric “led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.” Texas Representative Ronny Jackson pointed to unnamed figures on the left whom he accused of being “directly responsible” for the events at Trump’s campaign rally. … Earlier posts on X, Telegram and Gab, forums favored by many on the far-right, misidentified the shooter as a man called Mark Violets, calling him a “known Antifa extremist” which refers to the loosely organized leftist movement. According to NBC News, the misidentified person circulated in posts that included a photo was Marco Violi, an Italian YouTuber who has denied any involvement in the shooting. Immediately after the shooting, hundreds of thousands of posts reaching millions of views circulated on X claiming the shooting at the Pennsylvania rally was “staged,” according to data from the social media platform — without offering any evidence. Despite being quickly debunked, many of the posts remained live on the platform.” Bloomberg Davey Alba https://lnkd.in/eEQCShum