Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum.
Many individuals who engage with conspiracy theories come to do so through a combination of individual and social factors. The interaction between these factors is challenging to study using traditional experimental designs. Reddit.com is a large connected set of online discussion forums, including...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2019-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225098 |
| _version_ | 1819110898951782400 |
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| author | Colin Klein Peter Clutton Adam G Dunn |
| author_facet | Colin Klein Peter Clutton Adam G Dunn |
| author_sort | Colin Klein |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many individuals who engage with conspiracy theories come to do so through a combination of individual and social factors. The interaction between these factors is challenging to study using traditional experimental designs. Reddit.com is a large connected set of online discussion forums, including one (r/conspiracy) devoted to wide-ranging discussion of conspiracy theories. The availability of large datasets of user comments from Reddit give a unique opportunity to observe human behavior in social spaces and at scale. Using a retrospective case control study design, we analyzed how Reddit users who would go on to engage with a conspiracy-related forum differed from other users in the language they use, differences in the social environments where they posted, and potential interactions between the two factors. Together, the analyses provide evidence for self-selection into communities with a shared set of interests which can feed into a conspiratorial world-view, and that these differences are detectable relative to controls even before users begin to post in r/conspiracy. We also suggest that survey-based and experimental studies may benefit from differentiating between passive private endorsement by individuals and active engagement with conspiracy theories in social spaces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:49:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b07f7139cc3143c2a334327608abf403 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:49:03Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-b07f7139cc3143c2a334327608abf4032022-12-21T18:40:04ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-011411e022509810.1371/journal.pone.0225098Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum.Colin KleinPeter CluttonAdam G DunnMany individuals who engage with conspiracy theories come to do so through a combination of individual and social factors. The interaction between these factors is challenging to study using traditional experimental designs. Reddit.com is a large connected set of online discussion forums, including one (r/conspiracy) devoted to wide-ranging discussion of conspiracy theories. The availability of large datasets of user comments from Reddit give a unique opportunity to observe human behavior in social spaces and at scale. Using a retrospective case control study design, we analyzed how Reddit users who would go on to engage with a conspiracy-related forum differed from other users in the language they use, differences in the social environments where they posted, and potential interactions between the two factors. Together, the analyses provide evidence for self-selection into communities with a shared set of interests which can feed into a conspiratorial world-view, and that these differences are detectable relative to controls even before users begin to post in r/conspiracy. We also suggest that survey-based and experimental studies may benefit from differentiating between passive private endorsement by individuals and active engagement with conspiracy theories in social spaces.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225098 |
| spellingShingle | Colin Klein Peter Clutton Adam G Dunn Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum. PLoS ONE |
| title | Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum. |
| title_full | Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum. |
| title_fullStr | Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum. |
| title_short | Pathways to conspiracy: The social and linguistic precursors of involvement in Reddit's conspiracy theory forum. |
| title_sort | pathways to conspiracy the social and linguistic precursors of involvement in reddit s conspiracy theory forum |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225098 |
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