Increasing knowledge about cognitive biases: An evaluation study of a radicalization prevention campaign targeted at European adolescents and young adults

ABSTRACT

Confrontation with radical online content has been empirically linked to the facilitation of radicalization processes. Therefore, building a presence of information about potential prevention of radicalization through an online campaign may be particularly relevant to limit the activities and appeals of radical actors. In this study, we thus examine the effectiveness of campaign material focused on cognitive biases (i.e., when people's cognitive processes of information are systematically distorted). We test the success of the campaign material with respect to three campaign objectives: Building (1) knowledge about biases, (2) confidence to recognize biases, and (3) awareness and relevance of the issue. We conducted an online-experiment with adolescents (N = 223) comparing a control group (no exposure to the campaign material) to (A) a group that watched the developed campaign videos and (B) a group that watched the videos and took a self-assessment quiz. This comparison aims at testing how different levels of interactivity affect the three campaign objectives. The results suggest that the campaign materials increased knowledge about cognitive biases, but did not affect adolescents' confidence in recognizing biases and the perceived relevance of learning about biases.

IMPACT SUMMARY

Prior State of Knowledge

Exposure to radical content online has been linked to facilitating radicalization processes. Therefore, building skills based on one’s susceptibility to radicalization (i.e., cognitive biases) may be a potential prevention measure that can promote media literacy and limit the appeal of radical actors.

Novel Contributions

This study shows that campaign materials can increase knowledge of cognitive biases and thus raise awareness of vulnerability to radical content. Nevertheless, an online campaign should ideally be accompanied by a broader and longer-term educational program to ensure long-term awareness.

Practical Implications

Since cognitive biases are a processing pattern that affects everyone, information about how one’s self and others are affected by it could lead to a normalization of reflection about biased processing. This could have a positive impact on more critical media literacy and should thus be pursued in future campaigns, educational offerings, and scientific studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Campaign material evaluation
• prevention of radicalization
• cognitive biases
• media literacy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. This evaluation of campaign materials was part of the EU funded project PRECOBIAS: https://www.precobias.eu/. The evaluation of the campaign material with the same outcome variables and method design has been published as part of a larger report by the authors on the project website: https://www.precobias.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/PRECOBIAS-Scientific-Report.pdf. The theoretical basis, parts of the analysis, and the discussion of the campaign evaluation were rewritten specifically for this paper.

2. The hypotheses and research questions for this study were preregistered at: https://aspredicted.org/ZH3_KCJ

3. We preregistered this 8-minute threshold before conducting the study.

4. Straightliners were identified based on a scale assessing attitudes toward socio-political issues, which was not included in the analysis of this paper. This scale comprises 12 items with highly variable statements (e.g., “All cultures are worth the same” and “My religion is superior to other religions.”), which suggests a certain degree of variance. Those participants showing a variance of 0 over all 12 items were excluded from the analysis. The filter and the items are included in the provided data set, and thus it can be transparently tracked how the results change without the exclusion of straightliners. OSF: https://osf.io/kswgj/?view_only=c11a2d678a054ca487a4428c6327977b

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the The European Union’s Internal Security Fund [867186].

Notes on contributors

Brigitte Naderer

Brigitte Naderer, (PhD, University of Vienna) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Public Health, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna (Austria). Her research focuses on persuasive communication, online-radicalization, media literacy, and effects of media use on children and adolescents

Diana Rieger

Diana Rieger, (PhD, University of Cologne) is a Full Professor at the Department of Media and Communication at LMU Munich (Germany). Her research focuses on extremist communication, hate speech, and the effects of entertainment media on wellbeing-related outcomes.

Heidi Schulze

Heidi Schulze, (MA, TU Dresden) is a Research Associate at the Department of Media and Communication at LMU Munich. Her current research focuses on radicalization dynamics in online environments, radical/extremist communication in (alternative) social media platforms and fringe communities, as well as characteristics and audiences of hyperpartisan news websites.

Sophia Rothut

Sophia Rothut, (MA, LMU Munich) is a Research Associate in the Department of Media and Communication at LMU Munich, Germany. Her research focuses on online radicalization, extremist behaviors in digital environments, far-right communication strategies, and political/far-right social media influencers.