Causes and consequences of public opinion perceptions in times of social media

人类是社会性的存在，因此，他们的思想和行为受到他们对其他人所想和所做的感知的影响。这一社会现实图景的一个重要部分是对公众舆论的看法，这种看法被定义为对社会意见分布的主观评估(例如，关于特定问题的多数或少数)。在过去的几十年里，人们形成舆论图景的方式有了很大的发展，特别是随着互联网和Web2.0的兴起。潜在可见意见的延伸(在媒体和个人社交环境中)，以及对媒体内容进行个人和算法选择的重要性增加，提出了新的问题，但也引发了批评。回音室和过滤器泡沫等流行语描述了来自同质意见环境的危险，在这种环境中，个人几乎不会面临分歧。尽管它们与社会相关，但人们对个人意见环境的现象学、其中意见的多样性以及由此产生的影响知之甚少。只有同时考察所有可能的舆论感知来源，才能全面了解个体舆论环境是什么样子，它们的哪一部分实际上是同质的，以及它们对舆论感知、态度和行为产生了哪些影响。回答这个问题是该项目的中心目标。

Humans are social beings and as such, their thoughts and behaviors are influenced by their perceptions of what other people think and do. An important part of this picture of social reality are perceptions of public opinion that are defined as subjective assessments of opinion distributions in society (e.g., majorities or minorities regarding specific issues). The ways by which people form a picture of public opinion have considerably developed during the last decades, particularly with the rise of the internet and the web 2.0. The extension of potentially visible opinions (in the media and the personal social surrounding) along with an increased importance of personal and algorithmic selection of media content has raised new questions, but has also stimulated criticism. Buzzwords like echo chamber and filter bubble describe the dangers emanating from homogenous opinion environments, where the individual is barely confronted with disagreement. Despite their social relevance, not much is known about the phenomenology of individual opinion environments, the diversity of opinions within them, and the effects emanating from them. Only a simultaneous examination of all possible sources of public opinion perceptions can draw a complete picture of how individual opinion environments look like, which part of them is actually homogenous, and which effects they have on public opinion perception, attitudes, and behavior. Answering that question is the central goal of the project.