Collaborative Research: Interpersonal Pathways to Radicalization & Deradicalization

合作研究：走向激进化和根除的人际途径近年来，世界各地的政治极端主义有所增加，这是一个全球性的安全问题。尽管极端主义的威胁越来越大，但在圣战极端主义的背景下，激进化和去激进化是如何发生的，我们仍然有很多不知道的地方。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，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，对话环境中的人际互动也可能有去激化的潜力。这个项目将使用社交媒体数据来调查人际交流如何促进激进化，以及使用真实对话的实验来调查在人际环境中非激进化的潜在途径。该项目的调查结果将为寻求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模式的政策制定者提供关键的见解。这个项目将进行两项互补的研究，以调查人际沟通如何通过信息和情感途径使人与人之间的沟通变得激进和非激进化。首先，研究人员将开发和分析一个大规模的社交媒体数据集，其中包含世界各地极端主义领导人及其追随者在七个社交媒体平台上的帖子和互动，该数据集将被用来检验极端分子如何利用信息和影响的力量，通过人际沟通进一步激进化追随者。其次，研究人员将进行一项实验，在温和派和极端主义参与者之间进行实时对话，以测试信息和情感干预，为温和派配备对话工具，以说服和消除极端主义分子的情绪。该项目的发现将有助于在基础研究方面取得重大进展，不仅是关于在激进化过程中使用社交媒体和在线交流，而且还包括如何使用人际沟通策略来实现去激进化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.