Memorialization, Contested Knowledge, and the Sociopsychological Impacts of Disinformation in the Context of COVID-19

COVID-19 背景下的纪念、有争议的知识以及虚假信息的社会心理影响

• 批准号: 2148920
• 负责人: Sarah Wagner
• 金额: $ 35.04万
• 依托单位: George Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-06-01 至 2025-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148920&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Memorialization; Contested; Knowledge; Sociopsychological; Impacts

The waves of infection and variants of SARS-CoV-2 causing social disruption, sickness, and death continue to reveal a crisis in scientific expertise and authority, as well as the widespread politicization of the pandemic among policymakers and their constituents. This project examines how disinformation (the intentional airing of misleading information), misinformation (falsehoods), and the “infodemic” (a condition of excessive information that makes the solution to a problem more difficult to achieve), influence how individuals and communities in the United States mourn the dead. It focuses on how people manage their social and psychological lives when COVID-19 deaths are variously mourned, dismissed, or blamed on others in a politically fractious environment. The study contributes to understanding the social impact of misinformation and informs public policy responses to both the current pandemic and future public health crises that result in mass fatality, incomplete mourning, and politicized death. The project will also train eighteen graduate and undergraduate students in scientific research methods over the course of the three-year study.While most studies of public debates focus on texts, such as political speeches, newspaper and scholarly articles, this project explores what behaviors, in the context of the pandemic, have become central to the experience of mourning, and how mourners seek accountability in homes, cemeteries, grief counseling sessions, rituals, virtual commemorations, and social media posts, among other venues. In doing so, it addresses: (1) how COVID-19 misinformation has shifted over the course of its evolution; (2) how contested knowledge has shaped the mourning process for COVID-19 victims and their families; (3) how COVID-19 mourners have defined and pursued accountability in their efforts to counter misinformation; and (4) how altered burial, funeral, and commemorative practices affect mourning. Through social media analysis, in-person and virtual ethnographic engagement, and in-depth interviews, the project analyzes claims and counterclaims in their linguistic, media, and social relational contexts of use. Data and findings will contribute to anthropological understanding of ritual, particularly its efficacy in a contested environment, as well as provide important insight into the processes and consequences of incomplete mourning during a prolonged public health crisis.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.

SARS-CoV-2 的感染浪潮和变种造成社会混乱、疾病和死亡，继续暴露出科学专业知识和权威的危机，以及政策制定者及其选民对这一流行病的广泛政治化。该项目研究虚假信息（故意传播误导性信息）、错误信息（谎言）和“信息流行病”（信息过多导致问题更难解决的情况）如何影响美国个人和社区哀悼死者的方式。它重点关注在政治动荡的环境中，当人们对 COVID-19 死亡事件进行不同程度的哀悼、忽视或归咎于他人时，人们如何管理自己的社会和心理生活。该研究有助于了解错误信息的社会影响，并为公共政策应对当前的大流行和未来导致大规模死亡、不完全哀悼和政治化死亡的公共卫生危机提供信息。该项目还将在为期三年的研究过程中对十八名研究生和本科生进行科学研究方法方面的培训。虽然大多数公共辩论研究都集中在政治演讲、报纸和学术文章等文本上，但该项目探讨了在大流行背景下哪些行为成为哀悼体验的核心，以及哀悼者如何在家庭、墓地、悲伤咨询会议、仪式、虚拟环境中寻求责任。 纪念活动和社交媒体帖子等场所。在此过程中，它解决了：(1) COVID-19 错误信息在其演变过程中如何转变； (2) 有争议的知识如何影响了 COVID-19 受害者及其家人的哀悼过程； (3) COVID-19 哀悼者如何界定并追究责任以对抗错误信息； (4) 埋葬、葬礼和纪念活动的改变如何影响哀悼。通过社交媒体分析、面对面和虚拟的人种学参与以及深入访谈，该项目分析了语言、媒体和社会关系使用环境中的主张和反主张。数据和研究结果将有助于人类学对仪式的理解，特别是其在有争议的环境中的功效，并为长期公共卫生危机期间不完全哀悼的过程和后果提供重要见解。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。