Conference Agenda

Relevance & Research Question

This study investigates the psychological and media-related factors influencing rumor propagation during the Israel-Hamas 2023-2024 war, comparing early (first month) and later stages (ninth month) of the conflict. Using the unprecedented case of prolonged conflict in Israel, we examine how situational anxiety, trait anxiety, and psychological closeness interact with media consumption patterns to affect rumor dissemination. The research explores how these relationships evolve over time, contributing to our understanding of information behavior during extended crisis situations.

Methods & Data

Data were collected through a longitudinal survey of 347 Jewish-Israeli participants recruited via the Midgam Panel, using stratified sampling aligned with Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics demographics. The initial sample of 500 participants achieved a 70% retention rate at the nine-month follow-up. Measurements included validated scales for state and trait anxiety (adapted from STAI), psychological closeness, media consumption across platforms, and rumor-spreading behavior. Analyses employed t-tests, correlations, and Hayes' PROCESS macro for mediation analysis.

Results

While rumor-spreading levels remained stable across time periods, significant decreases were observed in situational anxiety, psychological closeness, and both social and mainstream media consumption between early and late stages. Social media platforms consistently showed stronger associations with rumor spread than mainstream media, with correlation strengths increasing over time. In the early stage, psychological closeness and trait anxiety significantly predicted rumor spread, mediated by media consumption. However, in the later stage, these factors directly influenced rumor spreading without significant mediation effects, indicating an evolution in the psychological mechanisms driving information sharing.

Added Value

This study advances crisis communication theory by demonstrating how psychological and media factors evolve differently in their influence on rumor propagation during prolonged conflicts. The findings reveal that while overall rumor-spreading behavior remains stable, the underlying psychological and media-related mechanisms shift significantly. These insights contribute to developing more effective, stage-specific strategies for managing information flow during extended crises, particularly highlighting the distinct roles of social and mainstream media in different conflict phases.

Relevance & Research Question
This study addresses the psychological impacts of crises and the role of social media in shaping those impacts, focusing on ethnic disparities between Jewish and Arab populations in Israel. The research investigates how social media consumption influences anxiety levels following the October 7 terror attack. Core research questions explore the relationship between social media use and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), comparing consumption patterns and psychological responses across these groups.

Methods & Data
A cross-sectional study was conducted with 651 participants (505 Jewish, 146 Arab) using stratified sampling to ensure representativeness. Data was collected through online anonymous questionnaires available in Hebrew and Arabic during the fifth and sixth weeks post-attack. The survey assessed media consumption, perceived credibility of information sources, social media activity, and anxiety levels via the GAD-7 scale. Statistical analyses, including chi-square tests, Spearman correlations, Independent Samples Tests, and linear regression, were performed to analyze the data.
Results
Significant differences were observed in media consumption patterns and anxiety levels. Jewish participants reported higher social media usage and anxiety scores, while Arabs showed reduced usage and lower anxiety. Jewish participants trusted official sources like the IDF spokesman more, whereas Arabs relied on social media and journalists. A positive correlation between social media use and anxiety was evident among Jews, contrasting with Arabs, where higher GAD scores correlated with decreased social media usage. Linear regression revealed a link between anxiety and the adoption of new social media platforms during the crisis.
Added Value
This research offers critical insights into how social media behavior during conflicts impacts mental health across different ethnic groups. It emphasizes the need for tailored crisis communication strategies that account for diverse sociocultural contexts. The study highlights the dual role of social media as both a coping mechanism and a stress amplifier, providing a foundation for future policy development and intervention programs to mitigate psychological harm during crises.

Relevance & Research Question

The emergence of social media has transformed the way people consume and share information. As such platforms widely lack mechanisms to ensure content quality, their increasing popularity has raised concerns about the spread of fake news and conspiracy beliefs – with potentially harmful effects on public opinion and social cohesion.

Our research aims to understand the underlying mechanisms of media perception and sharing behaviour when people are confronted with factual vs conspiracy-based media contents. Under which circumstances do people believe in a media content? Do traditional indicators of quality matter? Are pre-existing views more important than quality (confirmation bias)? How is perceived credibility linked to sharing behaviour?

Methods & Data

To empirically assess these questions, we administered a survey experiment to a general population sample in Germany via Bilendi in August 2023. As respondents with a general susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs are of major substantive interest, we made use of responses from a previous survey to oversample “conspiracy thinkers”.

Respondents were asked to evaluate the credibility of different media contents related to three vividly debated topics: vaccines against Covid-19, the climate crisis and the Ukraine war. We analyze these evaluations regarding the quality of the content (measured by author identity and data source), its visual layout (newspaper vs tweet), and previous respondent beliefs on the respective topic to measure confirmation bias.

Results

Our findings suggest that the inclination to confirm pre-existing beliefs is the most important predictor for believing a media content, irrespective of its quality. This general tendency applies to both, the mainstream society and “conspiracy thinkers”. However, according to self-reports the latter group is much more likely to share media contents they believe in.

Added Value

Methodologically, we use an interesting survey experiment that allows us to vary opinion (in)consistency and objective quality of media contents simultaneously, meaning that we can estimate the relative effect of these features on the credibility of media contents. We provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of the often debated spread of conspiracy beliefs through online platforms, with their practical implications for public opinion formation.