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Climate Change Debate Fueled by ‘Echo Chambers,’ New Study Finds
http://www.sesync.org/news/climate-change-debate-echo-chambers[font face=Serif][font size=5]Climate Change Debate Fueled by ‘Echo Chambers,’ New Study Finds[/font]
May 25, 2015
[font size=3]College Park, Md and Annapolis, Md — A new study from researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) demonstrates that the highly contentious debate on climate change is fueled in part by how information flows throughout policy networks.
The UMD and SESYNC researchers found that “echo chambers”—social network structures in which individuals with the same viewpoint share information with each other—play a significant role in climate policy communication. The researchers say that echo chambers may help explain why, despite a well-documented scientific consensus on the causes and drivers of global changes in climate, half of U.S. senators voted earlier this year against an amendment affirming that climate change is human-induced.
…
The researchers then used an exponential random graph (ERG) model—a complex statistical model for analyzing data about social and other networks—to test for the presence and significance of echo chambers among members of the U.S. climate policy network. In the “echo,” two people who have the same outlook or opinion on a relevant issue share information, reinforcing what each already believes. In the “chamber,” individuals hear information originating from one initial source through multiple channels.
…
“Our research underscores how important it is for people on both sides of the climate debate to be careful about where they get their information. If their sources are limited to those that repeat and amplify a single perspective, they can’t be certain about the reliability or objectivity of their information,” Jasny said.
…[/font][/font]
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2666.htmlMay 25, 2015
[font size=3]College Park, Md and Annapolis, Md — A new study from researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) demonstrates that the highly contentious debate on climate change is fueled in part by how information flows throughout policy networks.
The UMD and SESYNC researchers found that “echo chambers”—social network structures in which individuals with the same viewpoint share information with each other—play a significant role in climate policy communication. The researchers say that echo chambers may help explain why, despite a well-documented scientific consensus on the causes and drivers of global changes in climate, half of U.S. senators voted earlier this year against an amendment affirming that climate change is human-induced.
…
The researchers then used an exponential random graph (ERG) model—a complex statistical model for analyzing data about social and other networks—to test for the presence and significance of echo chambers among members of the U.S. climate policy network. In the “echo,” two people who have the same outlook or opinion on a relevant issue share information, reinforcing what each already believes. In the “chamber,” individuals hear information originating from one initial source through multiple channels.
…
“Our research underscores how important it is for people on both sides of the climate debate to be careful about where they get their information. If their sources are limited to those that repeat and amplify a single perspective, they can’t be certain about the reliability or objectivity of their information,” Jasny said.
…[/font][/font]
2 replies
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Echo chambers are the stock and trade of the whole rightwing media schtick. Its Fox News writ large. The MO is to quote some outlier climate change denier and then have the whole stable of news readers, pundits and celebrity guests join in the echo chamber to repeat the same gobbledegook in a constant loop.
If the typical Fox News viewer is anything like my sadly deluded and brainwashed brother, they confidently point to to Fox and proclaim that "everyone on the news" is saying they same thing; therefore it must be true. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
