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BA_heuristics

Linguistic data analysis for my BA thesis.

  • preprocessing dataset for annotation,
  • preparing a set for the second annotator
  • data analysis
  • statistical data

Topic: Heuristics and cognitive biases in public discourse on climate changes

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to look at heuristics and cognitive errors in the public discourse on climate change. I decided to focus on heuristics concerning affect, availability and representativeness, and the following biases: attentional, confirmation and status quo. Through a literature review, definitions were adapted from original papers (Cisler et al., 2007; Kahneman and Tversky, 1972; Nickerson, 1998; Samuelson and Zeckhauser, 1988; Slovic et al., 2007; Tversky and Kahneman, 1973, 1974; Zajonc, 1980) and handbooks (Eysenck and Keane, 2020; Groome et al., 2016; Kahneman, 2011) so that manual annotation could be performed. The original dataset was pre-cleaned. By examining the correspondence with the sample annotated by a psychology student, an analysis of the distribution of heuristics in the corpus was carried out. The study will help to find authentic cognitive errors in the posts of Twitter and Reddit users and increase knowledge about opinion formation in online forums.

Tags: heuristics, cognitive biases, social media, corpus linguistics, climate change