Collaborative Research: Interpersonal Pathways to Radicalization & Deradicalization

近年来，世界范围内的政治极端主义有所抬头，已成为一个全球性的安全问题。尽管极端主义的威胁越来越大，但在圣战极端主义背景之外，激进化和去激进化是如何发生的，我们仍然知之甚少。研究小组认为，激进化的一个关键驱动因素是社交媒体上的人际交流，在社交媒体上，潜在的新兵与来自世界各地的极端主义思想领袖联系在一起。然而，在会话环境中的人际交往也可能有去激进化的潜力。该项目将使用社交媒体数据来研究人际沟通如何促进激进化，并通过真实对话的实验来研究人际环境中去激进化的潜在途径。该项目的研究结果将为政策制定者提供关键见解，以限制社交媒体上极端主义内容的扩散，并降低和破坏人际激进化的模式。本项目将进行两项互补研究，探讨人际沟通如何通过信息和情感途径使人变得激进和去激进。首先，研究人员将开发和分析一个大型社交媒体数据集，该数据集包含世界各地极端主义领导人及其在七个社交媒体平台上的追随者之间的帖子和互动，该数据集将用于研究极端主义分子如何利用信息的力量和影响，通过人际沟通进一步激进追随者。其次，研究人员将进行一项实验，涉及温和派和极端分子参与者之间的实时对话，以测试信息和情感干预，为温和派提供对话工具，以说服和消除极端分子。该项目的研究结果将有助于在基础研究方面取得重大进展，不仅是在激进化过程中使用社交媒体和在线传播，还包括如何使用人际传播策略来实现去激进化。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Collaborative Research: Interpersonal Pathways to Radicalization and DeradicalizationPolitical extremism around the world has increased in recent years, representing a global security issue. Despite the growing threat of extremism, there is still much we do not know about how radicalization and deradicalization occur outside of the Jihadi extremism context. The research team argues that a key driver of radicalization is interpersonal communication on social media, where potential recruits are connected with extremist thought leaders from around the world. However, interpersonal interactions in conversational settings may also have the potential to deradicalize. This project will use social media data to investigate how interpersonal communication may facilitate radicalization as well as experiments involving real conversations to investigate potential avenues for deradicalization in interpersonal settings. The findings of this project will offer key insights for policymakers seeking to limit the proliferation of extremist content on social media and deescalate and disrupt patterns of interpersonal radicalization. This project will conduct two complementary studies to investigate how interpersonal communication radicalizes and deradicalizes via informational and affective pathways. First, the researchers will develop and analyze a large-scale social media dataset containing posts and interactions between extremist leaders around the world and their followers across seven social media platforms, The dataset will be used to examine how extremists use the power of information and affect to further radicalize followers via interpersonal communication. Second, the researchers will conduct an experiment involving real-time conversations between moderate and extremist participants to test informational and affective interventions that equip moderates with conversational tools to persuade and deradicalize extremists. The findings of this project will contribute to significant advances in basic research not only on the use of social media and online communication in radicalization processes, but also how interpersonal communication strategies can be used to achieve deradicalization.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.