University of Twente Student Theses
Creating resilience against the influence of online propaganda of Islamic State (IS)
Velde, M.J.H. van de (2017) Creating resilience against the influence of online propaganda of Islamic State (IS).
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| Abstract: | This study aims to gain more insights in how students can create resilience against the influence of online propaganda of extremist organizations, such as Islamic State (IS). By means of an experiment with four different conditions, the current work investigates the potential benefits of analysing and discussing propaganda material in a classroom setting. We conducted a survey to measure these effects among high school students (N = 247). The authors predicted that a combination of critical analysis and group discussion would be most effective in creating resilience against the influence of propaganda. Results show that the perceived symbolic threat of students after viewing the propaganda reduces more when the propaganda is discussed in a small group than when students reflect individual. In the case of reduced symbolic threat, students believe less in the truth of the propaganda, they experience less perceived injustice, less personal injustice and they identify less with IS. Supporting the TMT-theory, results revealed that when students perceived more symbolic threat after viewing the propaganda, they believed more in the truth of the propaganda of IS, experienced more perceived injustice, more personal injustice and identified more with IS. This is the first paper in which students viewed very recent propaganda of IS. This prevention could work very well, when it is offered at different times and in different forms to reduce one or more threats from the propaganda of IS. But the current study demonstrates that the development of propaganda of modern, extremist organizations has possibly moved beyond the methods that try to create resilience against it. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 02 science and culture in general, 05 communication studies, 70 social sciences in general, 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/71901 |
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