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How Misinformation Manipulates Individuals: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis Based on 185 Cases

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Wisdom, Well-Being, Win-Win (iConference 2024)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((volume 14597))

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Abstract

Exploring how misinformation manipulates individuals can reveal the logic of information manipulation and help better deal with the spread of different kinds of misinformation online including AIGC misinformation. To that end, this study conducted a reflexive thematic analysis based on 185 misinformation cases. The study found that there are 6 main manipulation mechanisms and 13 strategies behind misinformation. The 6 main mechanisms include providing clues to indicate credibility, reducing the psychological distance, expression of emotions to control the heuristic cognition, simplifying the difficulty of understanding, making content vivid to stimulate cognition and behavior manipulation. According to the result of reflexive thematic analysis, the misinformation manipulation model has been established. The results are helpful to fight misinformation online.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Yaning Cao & Qing Ke

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  1. Yaning Cao
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  2. Qing Ke
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Correspondence to Qing Ke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. iSchool organization, Berlin, Germany

    Isaac Sserwanga

  2. University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Hideo Joho

  3. Jilin University, Changchun, China

    Jie Ma

  4. Stockholm University, Kista, Sweden

    Preben Hansen

  5. Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Dan Wu

  6. University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Masanori Koizumi

  7. University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Anne J. Gilliland

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Cao, Y., Ke, Q. (2024). How Misinformation Manipulates Individuals: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis Based on 185 Cases. In: Sserwanga, I., et al. Wisdom, Well-Being, Win-Win. iConference 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14597. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57860-1_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57860-1_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-57859-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-57860-1

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