Inequality, Social Networks, and Internet Use: Exploring the Implications of the Social Diversification Hypothesis

The social diversification hypothesis (SDH) suggests that in multicultural societies Internet use can help mitigate structural inequalities in access to social resources. Whereas traditionally disadvantaged groups are predicted to use the Internet to expand and diversify their social networks, advantaged groups use it to maintain existing connections. The present study investigates this central prediction of the SDH by examining the relationship between Internet and social network site (SNS) use and inequalities in network size and diversity based on race, sex, and education among a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. The results largely contradict the SDH. Internet and SNS use were associated with greater network-based inequalities stemming from education. The relationships between education and indicators of network size and diversity were stronger among Internet users than non-users and stronger among SNS users than Internet-only users. Network inequalities directly related to race, sex, and education were also explored

Taking SIDEs: The Cognitive and Communicative Processes of Political Polarization

The social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) and the hyperpersonal model are used in this study to investigate how political discourse via computer-mediated communication (CMC) influences political polarization. The SIDE model explains how visual anonymity and social identity salience affect social influence and adherence to group norms. The hyperpersonal model explains how CMC can enhance interpersonal relationship outcomes relative to face-to-face communication. This study extends the SIDE model using the hyperpersonal model to better understand how visibility or visual anonymity, political group affiliation, and social identity salience during online discussions affect political polarization. Results of an online experiment showed that when discussing political issues, the political party identity of individuals in a dyad affected political polarization. Talking with an in-group political party member led participant attitudes to become more extreme and increased intergroup differentiation. The interaction effect between the party identity of interlocutors and visibility also affected intergroup differentiation such that when participants were visible to one another, intergroup differentiation was significantly higher for in-group political discussions relative to out-group political discussions. Intergroup differentiation was also significantly higher following visually anonymous out-group political discussions relative to visible out-group discussions. Finally, two message effects were observed. The use of positive emotion words and the use of words reflecting in-group connection were related to political polarization. Participants who used more positive emotion words expressed more extreme attitudes, and those who used more in-group connection words expressed more in-group attraction. The implications for the SIDE model, online political discourse, and political polarization are discussed

Digital Divide 3.0: The Mobile Revolution, Smartphone Use, and the Emerging Device Gap

Digital divide research has recently begun to address the functional gaps between Internet-connected technologies, specifically mobile and wired devices. This study uses nationally representative survey data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project to address this area of research and explores how smartphone-dependence compared to multi-modal access impacts Internet use among key demographic groups including race, sex, age, income, and education. This study also explores how demographic characteristics and smartphone use interact to affect reliance on smartphones and perceptions of the utility of mobile devices. Results show that race, sex, age, income, and education, exhibit different rates of smartphone-dependence, and also perform different online activities with their smartphones. Minorities and younger users are more likely to be smartphone-dependent and multi-modal users suggesting that these demographic groups are adopting mobile Internet technologies faster than Whites and older individuals. Minorities also use smartphones for more news and information activities than Whites, which contradicts traditional usage gap predictions

Flexible versus structured support for reasoning: enhancing analytical reasoning through a flexible analytic technique

Structured analytic techniques (SATs) help the intelligence community reduce flaws in cognition that lead to faulty reasoning. To ascertain whether SATs provide benefits to reasoning we conducted an experiment within a web-based application, comparing three conditions: 1) unaided reasoning, 2) a prototypical order-based SAT and 3) a flexible, process-based SAT that we call TRACE. Our findings suggest that the more flexible SAT generated higher quality reasoning compared to the other conditions. Consequently, techniques and training that support flexible analytical processes rather than those that require a set sequence of steps may be more beneficial to intelligence analysis and complex reasoning. Keywords: structured analytical techniques, Analysis of Competing Hypotheses, tradecraft, cognitive biases, experiments