Technology and Democracy: Understanding the influence of online technologies on political behaviour and decision-making
Abstract
Drawing from many disciplines, the report adopts a behavioural psychology perspective to argue that “social media changes people’s political behaviour”. Four pressure points are identified and analysed in detail: the attention economy; choice architectures; algorithmic content curation; and mis/disinformation. Policy implications are outlined in detail.
Authors
LEWANDOWSKY Stephan, SMILLIE Laura, GARCIA David, HERTWIG Ralph, WEATHERALL Jim, EGIDY Stefanie, ROBERTSON Ronald E., O’CONNOR Cailin, KOZYREVA Anastasia, LORENZ-SPREEN Philipp, BLASCHKE Yannic, LEISER Mark
Paper
- Technology and Democracy: Understanding the influence of online technologies on political behaviour and decision-making

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