Abstract
Public opinion management is reflected in a balanced approach to the information policy of the country, where the rationalistic outlook of the community promotes the social, economic, and political development of the state values. The formation of an individual’s political consciousness is subject to the influence of the information space in which they live, and this poses the relevance of investigating the issue of managing and defining disinformation at the stage of rapid digitalisation of society. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to determine the specifics of the development of patterns of political behaviour and consciousness of an individual in the process of forming a public stance in the context of socio-psychological, informational, and political determinants. The basis of the theoretical and methodological approach in this study was a combination of qualitative methods of systematic analysis of the specifics of psychological factors shaping political views and community behaviour, as well as content analysis of countering disinformation at the current stage of development of society. Furthermore, several surveys were conducted regarding the views and perceptions of the population on information in the media space in the country. The article also presents data that reflect the issue of the psychological phenomenon of society, in particular political judgments, moods, needs and motives of people, which are the result of social and political relations and are realised in a certain political behaviour and actions of both an individual and society as a whole. This article discusses the issues of combating disinformation in the digital space of the state and ways to improve the information literacy of the population. The results of the research are of practical value for educational, social, and psychological organisations that have a direct impact on the formation of legal behaviour and a conscious attitude to information processes in the digital space.
Keywords: infodemia; public opinion; absenteeism; social responsibility; electoral behaviour
Suggested citation
[1] A test to determine the level of media literacy. (2023). Retrieved from https://onlinetestpad.com/ua/testview/213929-perevir-riven-mediagramotnosti.
[2] Ali, A., Raza, A.A., & Qazi, I.A. (2023). Validated digital literacy measures for populations with low levels of internet experiences. Development Engineering, 8, article number 100107. doi: 10.1016/j.deveng.2023.100107.
[3] Barandiarán, X., Unceta, A., & Peña, S. (2020). Political communication in times of new political culture. Computational Methods in Communication, 18(1), 256-281. doi: 10.7195/ri14.v18i1.1382.
[4] Berg, S., Staemmler, D., & Thiel, T. (2022). Political theory of the digital constellation. Journal of Political Science, 32, 251-265. doi: 10.1007/s41358-022-00324-4.
[5] Blais, J., Chen, P.G., & Pruysers, S. (2021). Editorial: Political psychology: The role of personality in politics. Frontiers in Political Science, 3, article number 737790. doi: 10.3389/fpos.2021.737790.
[6] Bonafé-Pontes, A., Couto, C., Kakinohana, R., Travain, M., Schimidt, L., & Pilati, R. (2021). COVID-19 as infodemic: The impact of political orientation and open-mindedness on the discernment of misinformation in WhatsApp. Judgment and Decision Making, 16(6), 1575-1596. doi: 10.1017/S193029750000855X.
[7] Bundy, A. (2002). Growing the community of the informed: Information literacy – a global issue. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 33(3), 125-134. doi: 10.1080/00048623.2002.10755193.
[8] Carriere, K.R. (2022). Moving toward a cultural political psychology. In Psychology in policy (pp. 1-19). Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-07619-0_1.
[9] Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses. (2023, October). Retrieved from https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/80731-10#Text.
[10] Criminal Code of Ukraine. (2023, October). Retrieved from https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/en/2341-14#Text.
[11] Cyberspace Solarium Commission. (2021). Countering disinformation in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.solarium.gov/public-communications/disinformation-white-paper#h.imdbr3rghzb0.
[12] Dash, S., Parray, A.A., De Freitas, L., Mithu, M.I.H., Rahman, M.M., Ramasamy, A., & Pandya, A.K. (2021). Combating the COVID-19 infodemic: A three-level approach for low and middle-income countries. BMJ Global Health, 6(1), article number e004671. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004671.
[13] Davies, P.J. (2022). The media and politics. In G. Peele, B.E. Cain, J. Herbert, & A. Wroe (Eds.), Developments in American politics 9 (pp. 101-116). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-89740-6_7.
[14] Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, & Dinenage, C. (2021). Minister launches new strategy to fight online disinformation. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/minister-launches-new-strategy-to-fight-online-disinformation.
[15] Doskach, S., & Kostyk, L. (2021). Technologies of informative and manipulative influence on socio-political consciousness and behavior of modern youth. Science and Education, 2, 27-33. doi: 10.24195/2414-4665-2021-2-4.
[16] Dussutour, C. (2021). French Ministry of Foreign Affairs launches open source toolbox to fight disinformation. European Commission. Retrieved from https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/news/disinfo-open-toolbox-fight-disinformation.
[17] Fossum, J.E. (2023). The context of fake news, disinformation, and manipulation. In M. Conrad, G. Hálfdanarson, A. Michailidou, C. Galpin, & N. Pyrhönen (Eds.), Europe in the age of post-truth politics: Populism, disinformation and the public sphere (pp. 31-52). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-13694-8_3.
[18] Golovatyy, M.F. (2006). Political psychology: Tutorial for students of higher educational institutions. Kyiv: Interregional Academy of Personnel Management.
[19] Gorton, W.A. (2016). Manipulating citizens: How political campaigns’ use of behavioral social science harms democracy. New Political Science, 38(1), 61-80. doi: 10.1080/07393148.2015.1125119.
[20] Gross, J. (2023). How Finland is teaching a generation to spot misinformation. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/10/world/europe/finland-misinformation-classes.html.
[21] Gurytska, M., & Ryhlik, V. (2023). Approaches to modeling electoral behavior. Scientific works of the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management. Political Science and Public Administration, 3(63), 19-24. doi: 10.32689/2523-4625-2022-3(63)-3.
[22] Hart, P.S., Chinn, S., & Soroka, S. (2020). Politicization and polarization in COVID-19 news coverage. Science Communication, 42(5), 679-697. doi: 10.1177/1075547020950735.
[23] Hedling, E., & Bremberg, N. (2021). Practice approaches to the digital transformations of diplomacy: Toward a new research agenda. International Studies Review, 23(4), 1595-1618. doi: 10.1093/isr/viab027.
[24] Jost, J.T., Baldassarri, D.S., & Druckman, J.N. (2022). Cognitive-motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1, 560-576. doi: 10.1038/s44159-022-00093-5.
[25] Kaltwasser, C.R. (2021). Bringing political psychology into the study of populism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376(1822), article number 20200148. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0148.
[26] Kubin, E., Puryear, C., Schein, C., & Gray, K. (2021). Personal experiences bridge moral and political divides better than facts. Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, 118(6), article number e2008389118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2008389118.
[27] La Cour, C. (2019). Governments countering disinformation: The case of Italy. Retrieved from https://www.stopfake.org/en/governments-countering-disinformation-the-case-of-italy/.
[28] Law of Ukraine “On Information”. (2023, July). Retrieved from https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/en/2657-12#Text.
[29] Levin, I., & Mamlok, D. (2021). Culture and society in the digital age. Information, 12(2), article number 68. doi: 10.3390/info12020068.
[30] Lund, M. (2015). Intrastate conflicts and the problem of political will. In M. Lund, & S. McDonald (Eds.), Across the lines of conflict: Facilitating cooperation to build peace (pp. 3-22). New York: Columbia University Press. doi: 10.7312/lund70450-004.
[31] Mashuri, A., Putra, I.E., & Montiel, C. (2022). Political psychology of Southeast Asia. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 10(2), 491-500. doi: 10.5964/jspp.10133.
[32] MSB: Countering disinformation in Sweden. (2020). 4C Strategies. Retrieved from https://www.4cstrategies.com/case_study/countering-disinformation-in-sweden.
[33] Muldoon, O.T., Liu, J.H., & McHugh, C. (2021). The political psychology of COVID-19. Political Psychology, 42(5), 715-728. doi: 10.1111/pops.12775.
[34] Olan, F., Jayawickrama, U., Arakpogun, E.O., Suklan, J., & Liu, S. (2022). Fake news on social media: The impact on society. Information Systems Frontiers. doi: 10.1007/s10796-022-10242-z.
[35] Oldenburg, L., & Griesbaum, J. (2022). Everyday information literacy in rural areas. In Proceedings of ISIC: The Information Behaviour Conference (pp. 26-29). Boras: University of Boras.
[36] Perloff, R.M. (2021). The dynamics of political communication media and politics in a digital age. New York: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780429298851.
[37] Rasi, P., Vuojärvi, H., & Ruokamo, H. (2019). Media literacy education for all ages. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 11(2), 1-19. doi: 10.23860/JMLE-2019-11-2-1.
[38] Reisach, U. (2021). The responsibility of social media in times of societal and political manipulation. European Journal of Operational Research, 291(3), 906-917. doi: 10.1016/j.ejor.2020.09.020.
[39] Richards, R.C., Morrell, M.E., Brinker, D., & Reedy, J. (2022). Psychological phenomena in democratic deliberation: Current research involving lay conceptualizations and spanning boundaries. Journal of Deliberative Democracy, 18(2), 1-7. doi: 10.16997/jdd.1277.
[40] Sakun, A.V., Kadlubovych, T.I., & Chernyak, D.S. (2021). Prospects for the development of the political culture of Ukraine on the way to the EU. Political Culture and Ideology, 1, 94-100. doi: 10.24195/2414-9616.2021-1.14.
[41] Smith, L. (2016). Information literacy as a tool to support political participation. Library and Information Research, 40(123), 14-23. doi: 10.29173/lirg722.
[42] Suliman, A. (2022). Sweden sets up Psychological Defense Agency to fight fake news, foreign interference. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/06/sweden-fake-news-psychological-defence-agency.
[43] Survey “Determining formed knowledge about misinformation”. (2023). Retrieved from https://forms.gle/scBbJnv6xQNuAEyC6.
[44] Susser, D., Roessler, B., & Nissenbaum, H. (2019). Technology, autonomy, and manipulation. Internet Policy Review, 8(2). doi: 10.14763/2019.2.1410.
[45] Tarkin, V.P. (2021). Disinformation as a method of informational and psychological warfare. In Materials of the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Ukraine’s European choice, development of science and national security in the realities of large-scale military aggression and global challenges of the XXI century” (dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the National University “Odesa Law Academy” and the 175th anniversary of the Odesa School of Law)” (pp. 267-270). Odesa: Helvetyka Publishing House.
[46] Test on 8 political values. (2023). Retrieved from https://www.idrlabs.com/ua/8-values-political/test.php.
[47] Tsurkanova, I.O. (2022). Political consciousness of the new “generation x, y, z” in the development of Ukrainian society. Regional Studies, 29, 110-113. doi: 10.32782/2663-6170/2022.29.18.
[48] Ukhanova, N.S. (2020). Political socialization of youth as a prerequisite for the formation of information culture. Information and Law, 3(34), 127-135. doi: 10.37750/2616-6798.2020.3(34).221004.
[49] Van Kersbergen, K., & Vis, B. (2022). Digitalization as a policy response to social acceleration: Comparing democratic problem solving in Denmark and the Netherlands. Government Information Quarterly, 39(3), article number 101707. doi: 10.1016/j.giq.2022.101707.
[50] Whitfield, G. (2022). On the concept of political manipulation. European Journal of Political Theory, 21(4), 783-807. doi: 10.1177/1474885120932253.
[51] Zmigrod, L. (2022). A psychology of ideology: Unpacking the psychological structure of ideological thinking. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(4), 1072-1092. doi: 10.1177/17456916211044140.