Social Influence within Informational Pluralism: A Discourse on the Paranormal by a Regressive Minority
Fuente:
Zenodo
Enregistré dans:
| Auteur principal: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Recurso digital |
| Publié: |
Zenodo
2012
|
| Accès en ligne: | |
| Tags: |
Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
|
| _version_ | 1866901494074179584 |
|---|---|
| author | Zachariadis, Andreas |
| author_facet | Zachariadis, Andreas |
| contents | <p>This dissertation investigates the dynamics of minority and majority influence within a context of informational pluralism, where individuals are simultaneously exposed to both dominant and dissenting viewpoints. To operationalize this framework, a fictional experimental scenario was constructed involving the existence of elves: the majority source argued against their existence, while the minority source advocated for it.</p> <p>Across five experiments, the study examined the effects of conflict intensity, message content, ideological framing, communication systems, and conflict negotiation style on participants’ belief systems. Standardized and adapted psychometric tools were employed to measure changes in metaphysical beliefs, political attitudes, and perceptions of source credibility.</p> <p>The first experiment demonstrated that conflict intensity moderates the type of influence: low-intensity conflict favored direct majority influence, while high-intensity conflict facilitated indirect minority influence. Findings revealed parallel shifts in political and metaphysical beliefs, supporting the hypothesis of an underlying ideological structure shaping individual reasoning.</p> <p>The second experiment tested the “ideological continuity” hypothesis by enriching minority messages with political right- or left-wing content. Right-aligned minority messages (ideologically congruent) enhanced both direct and indirect influence, while left-aligned messages (ideologically incongruent) yielded limited political influence only, suggesting that ideological coherence strengthens minority persuasiveness.</p> <p>The third experiment explored how influence types interact with communication systems—transmission, diffusion, and propaganda. Results showed that propaganda favors majority influence on explicit and metaphysical levels, while diffusion supports both direct and indirect minority influence. This highlights the importance of divergent thought conditions in fostering minority impact.</p> <p>The fourth experiment focused on the negotiation style (rigid vs. flexible) in simultaneous exposure to both sources. Flexible minority confrontation, when mirroring the majority’s negotiation style, was found to enhance both direct and indirect influence, while informational pluralism as a condition consistently supported minority over majority impact.</p> <p>The fifth experiment addressed rhetorical versus dialogical confrontation. Dialogical formats weakened minority influence under stylistic symmetry but enhanced indirect influence (particularly on political beliefs) under stylistic asymmetry. These findings underscore the importance of communicative framing in the diffusion of minority viewpoints.</p> <p>In all studies, the social representation of the “elf” served as a cultural lens for interpreting belief formation. “Light” elf imagery (fairy-like, airy) was associated with belief and minority influence, whereas “dark” elf traits (grotesque, goblin-like) correlated with disbelief and majority influence. The findings emphasize the necessity of longitudinal approaches to better understand how social representations evolve under the pressures of influence dynamics.</p> <p>In conclusion, the proposed model of minority and majority influence under informational pluralism provides new insights into the ontogenesis of innovation, offering a framework for analyzing ideological transmission in democratic contexts.</p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_15737001 |
| institution | Zenodo |
| language | |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | Social Influence within Informational Pluralism: A Discourse on the Paranormal by a Regressive Minority Zachariadis, Andreas <p>This dissertation investigates the dynamics of minority and majority influence within a context of informational pluralism, where individuals are simultaneously exposed to both dominant and dissenting viewpoints. To operationalize this framework, a fictional experimental scenario was constructed involving the existence of elves: the majority source argued against their existence, while the minority source advocated for it.</p> <p>Across five experiments, the study examined the effects of conflict intensity, message content, ideological framing, communication systems, and conflict negotiation style on participants’ belief systems. Standardized and adapted psychometric tools were employed to measure changes in metaphysical beliefs, political attitudes, and perceptions of source credibility.</p> <p>The first experiment demonstrated that conflict intensity moderates the type of influence: low-intensity conflict favored direct majority influence, while high-intensity conflict facilitated indirect minority influence. Findings revealed parallel shifts in political and metaphysical beliefs, supporting the hypothesis of an underlying ideological structure shaping individual reasoning.</p> <p>The second experiment tested the “ideological continuity” hypothesis by enriching minority messages with political right- or left-wing content. Right-aligned minority messages (ideologically congruent) enhanced both direct and indirect influence, while left-aligned messages (ideologically incongruent) yielded limited political influence only, suggesting that ideological coherence strengthens minority persuasiveness.</p> <p>The third experiment explored how influence types interact with communication systems—transmission, diffusion, and propaganda. Results showed that propaganda favors majority influence on explicit and metaphysical levels, while diffusion supports both direct and indirect minority influence. This highlights the importance of divergent thought conditions in fostering minority impact.</p> <p>The fourth experiment focused on the negotiation style (rigid vs. flexible) in simultaneous exposure to both sources. Flexible minority confrontation, when mirroring the majority’s negotiation style, was found to enhance both direct and indirect influence, while informational pluralism as a condition consistently supported minority over majority impact.</p> <p>The fifth experiment addressed rhetorical versus dialogical confrontation. Dialogical formats weakened minority influence under stylistic symmetry but enhanced indirect influence (particularly on political beliefs) under stylistic asymmetry. These findings underscore the importance of communicative framing in the diffusion of minority viewpoints.</p> <p>In all studies, the social representation of the “elf” served as a cultural lens for interpreting belief formation. “Light” elf imagery (fairy-like, airy) was associated with belief and minority influence, whereas “dark” elf traits (grotesque, goblin-like) correlated with disbelief and majority influence. The findings emphasize the necessity of longitudinal approaches to better understand how social representations evolve under the pressures of influence dynamics.</p> <p>In conclusion, the proposed model of minority and majority influence under informational pluralism provides new insights into the ontogenesis of innovation, offering a framework for analyzing ideological transmission in democratic contexts.</p> |
| title | Social Influence within Informational Pluralism: A Discourse on the Paranormal by a Regressive Minority |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15737001 |