Social Media’s Black Magic: The Dynamics of American Politics

© Media Watch 7 (3) 363-369, 2016
ISSN 0976-0911 e-ISSN 2249-8818
DOI: 10.15655/mw/2016/v7i3/48553
 

Social Media’s Black Magic: The Dynamics of American Politics

JOHN GLYNN
Von Mises Institute, Austria
 
Abstract
With the rise of populism, both in American and European politics, one question seems to circulate on a regular basis. Are voters, particularly American voters, being conned by false promises and needless fear mongering?
 
Keywords: Donald Trump, Clinton, politics, presidential election 2016, the White House, social media
Dr. John Glynn is a senior lecturer at Kolej Yayasan UEM (KYUEM), a premier college situated in Malaysia. He is also a researcher and writer for the prestigious Von Mises Institute, Austria. Regarding areas of research, his primary focus involves examining the ways in which media outlets have formed modern-day society, with an emphasis on the psychological impact. His areas of research interest involve the psychological influence of social media and more conventional, mainstream media.
 
Notes
 
1 www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/06/trump-trumps-wins-historic-race-reco rd-fashion
2 Olsen, Stefanie. “Are We Getting Smarter or Dumber?” Brain Fitness & Brain Training. 21 Sept. 2005
3 Garrett, R. Kelly, and Paul Resnick. “Resisting Political Fragmentation on the Internet.” Daedalus (MIT Press) 140, no. 4 (2011): 108-120.
4 Freedman, Jonathan L. “Preference for Dissonant Information.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2 (1965a): 287-289.
5 Parry, Robert (2006-12-28). “The GOP’s $3 Bn Propaganda Organ”. The Baltimore Chronicle.
6 “SourceWatch entry on media “Echo Chamber” effect”. SourceWatch. 2006-10-22.
7 Kelman, H. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution.
8 Aronson, Elliot, Timothy D. Wilson, and Robin M. Akert. Social Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010.
9 Cialdini, Robert B. (2001). Influence: Science and practice (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. ISBN 0-321-01147-3
10 EurekAlert. (2009). Fear or romance could make you change your mind, U of Minnesota study finds.
11 Zuckerman, Miron; Silberman, Jordan; Hall, Judith A. (2013). “The Relation Between Intelligence and Religiosity: A Meta-Analysis and Some Proposed Explanations”. Personality and Social Psychology Review 17: 325–354.
12 https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/25/is-donald-trump-a-putin-patsy/?tid=a_inl
13 http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-putin-yes-it-s-really-a-thing
14 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/27/donald-trump-basically-just-encouraged-russia-to-spy-on-hillary-clinton/?tid=pm_pop_b
 
 
Dr. John Glynn is a senior lecturer at Kolej Yayasan UEM (KYUEM), a premier college situated in Malaysia. He is also a researcher and writer for the prestigious Von Mises Institute, Austria. Regarding areas of research, his primary focus involves examining the ways in which media outlets have formed modern-day society, with an emphasis on the psychological impact. His areas of research interest involve the psychological influence of social media and more conventional, mainstream media.