Chapter 12 infographic image description

The title of the infographic is, Thinking Critically About: The Internet as Social Amplifier

The Learning Objective Question reads, What role does the internet play in group polarization?

Running along the top of the infographic is the text, The internet connects like-minded people.

Three sections are shown in this infographic. The first section has the text at the top of the section, These connections can bring emotional healing, such as for cancer survivors and bereaved parents. The illustration has a large circle with four smaller circles surrounding it. The large circle shows a woman looking at her laptop, crying. Behind her is the Eiffel Tower, and she is wearing a pin with the face of a young boy on it. The caption under the woman reads, Grieving for a lost child. In the smaller circles around her are images of phone screens with heart symbols. There are double arrows between all the circles, indicating interconnectedness.

The second section has the text at the top of the section, Online sharing can also strengthen social movements. There are six circles arranged in a circle. Three circles have dark colors and three circles have light colors. The three dark circles have the label, Antisocial. Inside the first circle is an illustration of an angry White man brandishing a lit torch, with dark silhouettes of other people with torches behind him. The label in the circle is White supremacy. Inside the second circle is an illustration of dark smokestacks spewing black clouds into an orange sky. The label in the circle is Climate change skeptics. Inside the third circle is an illustration of a semi-automatic gun. The label is Antigovernment militias.

The three light circles have the label Prosocial. Inside the first circle is an illustration of a woman’s hand holding up a sign. The label in the circle is hashtag Never Again. Inside the second circle is an illustration of an African American’s raised, clenched fist. The label in the circle is hashtag Black Lives Matter. Inside the third circle is an illustration of a clock with the hour hand at five and the minute hand almost to twelve. The label in the circle is hashtag Time’s Up.

The third section has the text at the top of the section, Electronic communication and social networking can encourage people to isolate themselves from those with different opinions.

Under this are two illustrations with a textbox in the middle. Text reads, On social media, we often share political content with like-minded others. (Footnote 1: Bakshy et al., 2015; Barberá et al., 2015.) On the left of this text is a left-facing arrow. It points to a large circle surrounded by five smaller circles. The text in the large circle reads, Candidate A. The text in the smaller circles has the letter a. The small circles around the large circle are all connected by lines to each other, and two are connected to the center circle. On the right of the text is a right-facing arrow. It points to the same arrangement of circles, but the text in these circles is Candidate B in the large circle and the letter b in the smaller circles. The connecting lines are the same. The lines in these illustrations create a closed system and show how Candidates A and B and their supporters isolate themselves.

A text box below these illustrations reads, Like-minded separation plus conversation leads to group polarization.