Studying Deceptive Communication: An Integrative Approach to Misinformation Studies

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

The misinformation studies field is broadly transdisciplinary including the social sciences, communications, and engineering/ computer science among others. Each discipline examining this phenomenon defines and addresses it differently leading to incoherence in discussing the scientific importance of misinformation, conceptualizing and defining the phenomenon, and assessing the current state of the literature. This panel leverages insights from the social sciences including the social problems and zemiology literatures to address these concerns by examining misinformation as a social problem, defining existing conceptual problems with conceptual analysis, offering a minimal and maximal approach to defining misinformation, and presenting an overview of the state of existing work in misinformation using secondary data. We conclude by considering the relevance of misinformation to criminology and ways the criminological literature can better inform this work.

Sub Unit

• Area V. Victimization / 37. Causes and Correlates of Victimization

Individual Presentations

• Framing the Field of Misinformation Studies: A Conceptual Analysis - Richard E. Niemeyer, United States Air Force Academy; Sarah Bostrom, United States Air Force Academy

• Misinformation as a Social Problem: Analyzing the Current Debates as a Social Problems Process - Elizabeth A. Canfield, United States Air Force Academy; Melissa Howard, United States Air Force Academy; Sarah Bostrom, United States Air Force Academy; Richard E. Niemeyer, United States Air Force Academy

• Formal Minimal and Maximal Definitions for Characterizing MDM - Sarah Bostrom, United States Air Force Academy; Richard E. Niemeyer, United States Air Force Academy; K. Ryan Proctor, Athena Institute of Mechanistic Science; Melissa Howard, United States Air Force Academy; Alexandra Mascher, United States Air Force Academy

• Examining the State of the Misinformation Studies Literature Using a Techno-Social Framework of Deceptive Communication - Rory Powers, United States Air Force Academy; Sarah Bostrom, United States Air Force Academy; K. Ryan Proctor, Athena Institute of Mechanistic Science; Richard E. Niemeyer, United States Air Force Academy

Organized by a Division or external group?

Warfighter Effectiveness Research Center
United States Air Force Academy