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Adam-Troian, J, Bonetto, E and Arciszewski, T (2021) ‘We Shall Overcome’: First-Person Plural Pronouns from Search Volume Data Predict Collective Action across the United States. PsyArXiv. (Unpublished)
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Abstract
Collective action is a key driver of social and political change within societies. So far, the main factor mobilizing individuals into collective action remains the extent to which they feel identified with a protesting group (i.e., social identification). Although the link between social identification and collective action is well-established, current evidence relies mostly on self-report data. To tackle this issue, we combined real-life protest counts in the US (2017-2020) with online search data (Google Trends) for pronouns indicating a ‘group’ mindset (first-person plural pronouns; e.g. ‘we’, ‘us’). Time series analyses indicated that weekly fluctuations in searches (N = 164) predict both protest and protester counts over time. Confirmatory mixed-models then showed that a 1% increase in pronoun searches was linked with +13.67% protests 95%CI[4.02,23.32] and +47.45% protesters 95%CI[26.54, 68.36] the following week. These original results have important implications for the ecological study and quantification of collective action dynamics in psychology.
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | This manuscript/preprint and all relevant information related to it can be found online at; https://psyarxiv.com/73uea/ |
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
Divisions: | Faculty of Natural Sciences > School of Psychology |
Depositing User: | Symplectic |
Date Deposited: | 21 Sep 2021 08:22 |
Last Modified: | 21 Sep 2021 08:22 |
URI: | https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/id/eprint/10051 |