HCC: Medium: Deterring objectionable behavior and fostering emergent norms in social media conversations

这项工作旨在开发一个理论模型，用于理解规范的出现和维护，以阻止自组织的社交媒体空间中的不良行为，其中规则不是由任何权威机构制定的。 令人反感的言论，如错误信息，仇恨言论和骚扰，在这些网络环境中普遍存在，这就提出了一个问题，即个人如何才能建立规范来阻止令人反感的言论。然而，虽然研究人员注意到社会规范在社交媒体和在线社区中的影响，但现有的关于这些规范出现的机制的理论工作侧重于促进合作的规范，而不是阻止不必要的贡献的规范。该项目将通过以下方式促进在线空间的公共话语以及研究和教育成果：（1）制定干预措施，帮助公民有效抵制他们可能在社交媒体上遇到的错误信息、仇恨言论和骚扰;（2）开发一种新的研究工具，将个人和集体实验联系起来;（3）提供和传播理论模型，说明个人和集体受众如何回应对不同领域有问题内容的反对意见，以及（4）提高对反对意见的认识，即使是善意的，在特定的受众条件下也会适得其反。本研究的结果将是一个理论上的进步，在理解紧急规范的威慑不必要的行为，以及一个内部和外部验证的多层次模型，建议具体的战略部署在真实的世界。本研究旨在实现这些目标，通过多层次，多方法的调查。它将测试在观众和不同社交媒体的不同集体条件下，反对错误信息、仇恨言论和骚扰的不同方式的影响。该项目分为四个研究阶段：真实的世界观察，个人层面的实验，基于代理的模拟，集体层面的实验。 之后是实地执行阶段。在观察阶段，它将从社交媒体上获得对攻击性言论的现实反对意见，并将其映射到理论空间中。在个人层面的实验阶段，它将使用一个新的模拟社交媒体环境来测试在观察阶段观察到的效果是否在个人层面上具有因果影响。基于代理的模拟阶段将使用个人层面的机制，建立规模的反对者和观众成员之间的互动模拟。在集体实验阶段，研究将测试集体动态的互动之间的真实的人匹配的基于代理的模拟产生的。最后，在现场实施阶段，从研究中得出的循证策略将建立可扩展的在线学习模块，以培训社交媒体用户在遇到社交媒体中的话语攻击时如何成为有效的反对者。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This work seeks to develop a theoretical model for understanding the emergence and maintenance of norms to deter objectionable behavior in self-organized social media spaces where rules are not set by any authority. Objectionable speech, such as misinformation, hate speech, and harassment, is prevalent in these online environments, which raises the question how individuals can foster norms to discourage objectionable speech. Yet while researchers note the influence of social norms within social media and online communities, existing theoretical work on the mechanisms through which such norms emerge focuses on norms promoting cooperation as opposed to norms that deter unwanted contributions. This project will benefit public discourse in online spaces, as well as research and educational outcomes, by: (1) Developing interventions that help citizens become effective objectors to the misinformation, hate speech and harassment they are likely to encounter on social media; (2) Developing a novel research tool for bridging individual and collective experimentation; (3) Providing and disseminating theoretical models of how individual and collective audiences respond to objections to problematic content in different domains, and (4) Raising awareness of the potential for objections, even if well-intentioned, to backfire in particular audience conditions. The result of this research will be a theoretical advancement in the understanding of emergent norms for the deterrence of unwanted behaviors as well as an internally and externally validated multi-level model recommending concrete strategies to be deployed in the real world.This research seeks to achieve these goals through a multi-level, multi-method inquiry. It will test the impact of different ways of objecting to misinformation, hate speech, and harassment under different collective conditions in the audience and different social media affordances. The project proceeds in four research phases: real world observation, individual-level experimentation, agent-based simulation, and collective-level experimentation. These are followed by a field implementation phase. In the observation phase, it will obtain real-world objections to offensive speech from social media and map these into a theoretical space. In the individual-level experimentation phase, it will use a novel simulated social media environment to test whether effects observed in the observational phase have causal influence at the individual level. The agent-based simulation phase will use the individual-level mechanisms to build simulations of interactions between objectors and audience members at scale. In the collective experimentation phase, the research will test whether the collective dynamics of interaction among real people match those produced by the agent-based simulation. Finally, in the field implementation phase, the evidence-based strategies derived from the research will build scalable online learning modules to train social media users on how to be effective objectors when encountering a discursive offense in social media.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.