Comprehension of Socioscientific Controversies Through Multiple Documents: Language as Credibility Cue

通过多个文件理解社会科学争议：语言作为可信度线索

• 批准号: 494819633
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Tobias Richter
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Psychologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/494819633?language=en
• 关键词: Comprehension; Socioscientific; Controversies; Through; Multiple

The text-belief consistency effect, i.e. better comprehension of text information consistent with readers’ prior beliefs, is a well-established phenomenon. Previous research has found text-belief consistency effects in readers who read multiple documents that present opposing perspectives on controversial socioscientific issues in a single language. However, when people research information about socioscientific issues on the Internet, they regularly read across a multiplicity of documents in several languages—often in their native language and in English as the lingua franca of the current information society. Therefore, the current project sets out to investigate text-belief consistency effects when readers read controversial information across documents in readers native language and in their second language English.Considering the differential epistemic statuses of languages within the current knowledge society, the project proceeds with the assumption that document language could serve as a source characteristic, which might affect the way the information is comprehended. In particular, documents written in English as the major language of science might be associated with higher credibility than documents written in other languages of lesser global importance. Against this background, we aim to investigate how document language as a source characteristic moderates text-belief consistency effects when bilinguals read multiple controversial documents on a single topic across their first and second languages. We also aim to establish perceived credibility as the mechanism of this effect.Eight experiments are planned that examine these general assumptions in German and Iranian students who read multiple documents about socioscientific issues in their first language (German or Persian) and in their second language English. The study of text-belief consistency effects among English-German bilinguals will be conducted in Würzburg, Germany, by the applicant’s team. The study of text-belief consistency effects in English-Persian bilinguals will be conducted in Tehran, Iran, by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Nabi Karimi who will be involved in the project as prospective Mercator fellow. The applicant’s team and the Mercator fellow will closely collaborate in the development of text materials and items. All materials will be thoroughly pre-tested, with an eye on their equivalence in terms of linguistic difficulty and content familiarity. The project will provide theoretical contributions to the research on text-belief consistency and sourcing by extending the focus of previous research to multilingual reading contexts, a point that has received no attention in the empirical research in the two areas.

文本信念一致性效应，即读者能够更好地理解与先前信念一致的文本信息，是一个公认的现象。先前的研究发现，当读者阅读用一种语言对有争议的社会科学问题提出相反观点的多份文件时，文本信念一致性会产生影响。然而，当人们在互联网上研究有关社会科学问题的信息时，他们经常会阅读多种语言的文件——通常是他们的母语和作为当前信息社会通用语言的英语。因此，本项目旨在研究当读者以母语和第二语言英语阅读有争议的信息时，文本信念一致性的影响。考虑到当前知识社会中语言的不同认知地位，该项目假设文档语言可以作为一种来源特征，这可能会影响信息的理解方式。特别是，用英语作为主要科学语言撰写的文件可能比用全球重要性较低的其他语言撰写的文件具有更高的可信度。在此背景下，我们的目标是研究当双语者跨第一语言和第二语言阅读关于单一主题的多个有争议的文档时，文档语言作为源特征如何调节文本信念一致性效应。我们还旨在建立感知可信度作为这种效应的机制。计划进行八个实验，以德国和伊朗学生为对象，检验这些一般假设，这些学生用母语（德语或波斯语）和第二语言英语阅读有关社会科学问题的多份文件。申请人团队将在德国w<s:1> rzburg进行英德双语者文本信念一致性效应的研究。默罕默德·纳比·卡里米教授博士将作为未来墨卡托研究员参与该项目，他将在伊朗德黑兰对英语-波斯语双语者的文本信念一致性效应进行研究。申请人的团队和墨卡托研究员将在文本材料和项目的开发中密切合作。所有材料都将经过彻底的预先测试，并着眼于它们在语言难度和内容熟悉度方面的等效性。该项目将以往研究的重点扩展到多语言阅读语境，这一点在这两个领域的实证研究中没有得到关注，将为文本信念一致性和来源的研究提供理论贡献。