The article reports that Americans overestimate how many social media users engage in harmful online behavior, estimating higher prevalence than what is found in platform data. It examines how these misperceptions can influence views of society and moral decline, and tests a misperception correction approach. The findings highlight a small, active minority as the main source of toxic content and false news online.

This topic is of interest to psychology enthusiasts because it explores cognitive biases in social perception, the impact of beliefs about others on trust and cynicism, and how corrective information can shift attitudes toward social morality.

Article Title: Americans systematically overestimate how many social media users contribute to harmful online behavior

Link to PsyPost Article: https://nolinkpreview.com/www.psypost.org/americans-systematically-overestimate-how-many-social-media-users-contribute-to-harmful-online-behavior/

#socialmedia #misperception #psychology #cynicism #trust #moraldecline #toxiccomments #false news #onlinebehavior #researchstudy

Toxicity on Social Media – The Noisy Room

스탠포드 연구진은 소셜미디어에서 극단적이고 독성 높은 콘텐츠를 게시하는 소수의 사용자가 전체 콘텐츠의 상당 부분을 차지하며, 알고리즘이 이들의 콘텐츠를 증폭시켜 다수 사용자의 의견이 묻히는 현상을 발견했다. 이로 인해 다수는 침묵하거나 플랫폼을 떠나고, 소수는 자신이 다수라고 착각하며, 정치적 오해와 적대감이 심화된다. 연구는 이러한 인식 왜곡을 완화하기 위해 '커뮤니티 체크' 같은 공개적 오해 교정 도구를 제안하며, 이를 통해 사회적 적대감 감소와 여론 왜곡 해소가 가능함을 시사한다. 이는 AI 기반 소셜미디어 알고리즘과 사용자 행동 분석, 그리고 사회적 인식 개선에 중요한 시사점을 제공한다.

https://thenoisyroom.com

#socialmedia #toxicity #algorithm #misperception #publicopinion

The Noisy Room

Only 3% of social media users post toxic content — but Americans estimate 43%. An interactive essay about what algorithms hide.

The Noisy Room

"Oh, interesting! Is that a new #mastodon feature? Or maybe a new thing just for #elkzone ?"

I am not a smart human.

#misperception #silly #NotSmart

"The global average of those willing to contribute was 69%. But the percentage that people thought would be willing was 43%. The gap between perception and reality was as high as 40 percentage points in some countries" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/22/activate-climate-silent-majority-support-supercharge-action "A huge 89% majority of the world’s people want stronger action to fight the climate crisis but feel they are trapped in a self-fulfilling “spiral of silence” because they mistakenly believe they are in a minority" #misperception #media
Activate climate’s ‘silent majority’ to supercharge action, experts say

Making concerned people aware their views are far from alone could unlock the change so urgently needed

The Guardian

Because I have my issues, there is a certain word which--especially in the sans serif fonts so ubiquitous online--I ALWAYS read wrong at least once, then have to go back and re-read it.

So of course tonight I'm seeing dozens of posts about eggcorn book titties.

#EggcornBookTitles
#misperception
#readThatWrong