Information War in Donbas and Psychological Immunity Against Misinformation

Jon Roozenbeek, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge
Moderated by Emily Channell-Justice, Director, Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program, HURI

Register for Zoom or watch on YouTube

Abstract

The Donbas War (2014-present) is one of the world's foremost theatres of not only kinetic but also information warfare. The first part of this lecture examines the dominant media narratives in the so-called "People's Republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk, and how the ruling authorities of these republics have sought to discursively construct ingroup and outgroup identities as part of a large-scale influence campaign. The second half of this lecture explores the "demand side" of news consumption: What makes news headlines, and especially misinformation, persuasive? What factors predict whether someone believes information that is untrue? And finally: Is it possible to reduce the likelihood of people being persuaded by misinformation?

About the Speaker

Jon Roozenbeek is a research fellow at the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses broadly on misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, polarization, and online extremism. As part of his research, Jon has developed numerous interventions aimed at reducing susceptibility to misinformation, including online 'fake news' games such as Bad News, Harmony Square, and Go Viral. His PhD dissertation (2020) examined media narratives in the "People's Republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Jon has won numerous awards for his work, including the Frank Prize in Public Interest Communications from the University of Florida, and the Brouwer Trust in Science Award from the Royal Holland Society of Sciences.

Moderator: Emily Channell-Justice, Director, Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program, Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University

Watch on YouTube

───◊───

Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact Megan Duncan Smith, HURI Programs Coordinator, at duncansmith@fas.harvard.edu in advance of the session (at least two weeks prior, if possible).

Watch videos of past HURI events on our YouTube Channel and subscribe to our email list to receive announcements about events and other activities.