Poles Apart? Consumption and Transmission of Polarized Information Among Youth in a Divided Society

• In Event: Whom to Trust and How to Share: Children and Adolescents’ Social Learning in Intergroup Contexts

Abstract

In conflict settings, youth are socialized with divergent political and historical narratives, according to group membership (e.g. what to commemorate from the past, how society ought to move forward). Exposure to such divergent ‘truths’ creates and maintains ideological polarization which may perpetuate intergroup conflict (Bar-Tal, Diamond & Nasie, 2017). In a pre-registered study, we examine consumption and transmission of polarized information among youth in the historically divided society of Northern Ireland, employing a linear diffusion chain paradigm (Figure 1), an experimental form of the children’s game of telephone.

Participants (current n =53, target n = 250) were Catholic (50.9%) and Protestant (49.1%) adolescents aged 12-18 years (M = 14.29 years, SD = 2.11, 62.3% female). Participants were placed within linear chains; either homogeneous (entirely Catholic or Protestant) or heterogeneous (alternating Catholic and Protestant) in group membership. They read three messages from a prior participant about polarized topics, before recalling that information for the subsequent participant, which was repeated across four generations. The messages were relevant to conflict-related group identities (the partition of Ireland/Irish Language Act) or not (social media). We coded information fidelity across the chain (how much information was recalled), whether information recall was biased towards group affirming statements, the nature of any information mutation, and support of information. Openness to belief revision was also examined.

Checks confirmed that young people’s social environment (ethno-religious background) influenced their support of conflict-relevant narratives in the hypothesized direction; Protestants were more supportive of partition of Ireland than Catholics (t(40) = 3.11, p = .003, d = .96), less supportive of an Irish Language Act(t(42) = -2.35, p = .017, d = -.71), and the two did not differ in the control condition (social media; t(40) = .07, p = .94, d = .02). In each condition, there was a significant reduction in amount of information recalled, relative to the original (partition: t(52) = 16.68, p < .001, d = 2.29; language act: t(52) = 12.92, p < .001, d = 1.77; social media: t(52) = 15.72, p < .001, d = 2.18). The amount of information recalled between generations did not differ significantly, ps > .05, indicating a single retelling was sufficient to significantly alter the information being transmitted. In all conditions, age was positively related to amount of information recalled (ps < .001), potentially reflecting increased exposure to, and engagement with, polarized topics. Differences as a function of ethno-religious background were found with respect to belief revision; the historically victimized group were less receptive to their conflict related beliefs changing, t(42) = 2.47, p = .018, d = .75, despite not differing from the other group in the initial strength of their conflict related beliefs, t(42) = .66, p = .53, d = .19.

Young people are not merely passive consumers of information (Harris, Koenig, Corriveau & Jaswal, 2018), they can be agents of positive change. By highlighting influences of their social environment, we hope to empower youth to engage in epistemic vigilance, creating more knowledgeable and peaceful societies.

Authors

• Bethany Corbett, Queen’s University Belfast
  Presenting Author

• Emma Flynn, Queen’s University Belfast

• Lara Wood

• Kathleen H. Corriveau, Boston University

• Mariah Kornbluh, University of Oregon

• Christin Scholz

• Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University

• Jing Xu, University of Washington

• Jocelyn B Dautel, Queen’s University Belfast