The public mental representations of deepfake technology: An in-depth qualitative exploration through Quora text data analysis.

The advent of deepfake technology has raised significant concerns regarding its impact on individuals' cognitive processes and beliefs, considering the pervasive relationships between technology and human cognition. This study delves into the psychological literature surrounding deepfakes, focu...

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Main Authors: Barbara Caci, Giulia Giordano, Marianna Alesi, Ambra Gentile, Chiara Agnello, Liliana Lo Presti, Marco La Cascia, Sonia Ingoglia, Cristiano Inguglia, Alice Volpes, Dario Monzani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313605
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author Barbara Caci
Giulia Giordano
Marianna Alesi
Ambra Gentile
Chiara Agnello
Liliana Lo Presti
Marco La Cascia
Sonia Ingoglia
Cristiano Inguglia
Alice Volpes
Dario Monzani
author_facet Barbara Caci
Giulia Giordano
Marianna Alesi
Ambra Gentile
Chiara Agnello
Liliana Lo Presti
Marco La Cascia
Sonia Ingoglia
Cristiano Inguglia
Alice Volpes
Dario Monzani
author_sort Barbara Caci
collection DOAJ
description The advent of deepfake technology has raised significant concerns regarding its impact on individuals' cognitive processes and beliefs, considering the pervasive relationships between technology and human cognition. This study delves into the psychological literature surrounding deepfakes, focusing on people's public representation of this emerging technology and highlighting prevailing themes, opinions, and emotions. Under the media framing, the theoretical framework is crucial in shaping individuals' cognitive schemas regarding technology. A qualitative method has been applied to unveil patterns, correlations, and recurring themes of beliefs about the main topic, deepfake, discussed on the forum Quora. The final extracted text corpus consisted of 166 answers to 17 questions. Analysis results highlighted the 20 most prevalent critical lemmas, and deepfake was the main one. Moreover, co-occurrence analysis identified words frequently appearing with the lemma deepfake, including video, create, and artificial intelligence-finally, thematic analysis identified eight main themes within the deepfake corpus. Cognitive processes rely on critical thinking skills in detecting anomalies in fake videos or discerning between the negative and positive impacts of deepfakes from an ethical point of view. Moreover, people adapt their beliefs and mental schemas concerning the representation of technology. Future studies should explore the role of media literacy in helping individuals to identify deepfake content since people may not be familiar with the concept of deepfakes or may not fully understand the negative or positive implications. Increased awareness and understanding of technology can empower individuals to evaluate critically the media related to Artificial Intelligence.
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spelling doaj-art-a9a027d1a5af4013b514e7912b289f862025-01-17T05:31:54ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-011912e031360510.1371/journal.pone.0313605The public mental representations of deepfake technology: An in-depth qualitative exploration through Quora text data analysis.Barbara CaciGiulia GiordanoMarianna AlesiAmbra GentileChiara AgnelloLiliana Lo PrestiMarco La CasciaSonia IngogliaCristiano IngugliaAlice VolpesDario MonzaniThe advent of deepfake technology has raised significant concerns regarding its impact on individuals' cognitive processes and beliefs, considering the pervasive relationships between technology and human cognition. This study delves into the psychological literature surrounding deepfakes, focusing on people's public representation of this emerging technology and highlighting prevailing themes, opinions, and emotions. Under the media framing, the theoretical framework is crucial in shaping individuals' cognitive schemas regarding technology. A qualitative method has been applied to unveil patterns, correlations, and recurring themes of beliefs about the main topic, deepfake, discussed on the forum Quora. The final extracted text corpus consisted of 166 answers to 17 questions. Analysis results highlighted the 20 most prevalent critical lemmas, and deepfake was the main one. Moreover, co-occurrence analysis identified words frequently appearing with the lemma deepfake, including video, create, and artificial intelligence-finally, thematic analysis identified eight main themes within the deepfake corpus. Cognitive processes rely on critical thinking skills in detecting anomalies in fake videos or discerning between the negative and positive impacts of deepfakes from an ethical point of view. Moreover, people adapt their beliefs and mental schemas concerning the representation of technology. Future studies should explore the role of media literacy in helping individuals to identify deepfake content since people may not be familiar with the concept of deepfakes or may not fully understand the negative or positive implications. Increased awareness and understanding of technology can empower individuals to evaluate critically the media related to Artificial Intelligence.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313605
spellingShingle Barbara Caci
Giulia Giordano
Marianna Alesi
Ambra Gentile
Chiara Agnello
Liliana Lo Presti
Marco La Cascia
Sonia Ingoglia
Cristiano Inguglia
Alice Volpes
Dario Monzani
The public mental representations of deepfake technology: An in-depth qualitative exploration through Quora text data analysis.
PLoS ONE
title The public mental representations of deepfake technology: An in-depth qualitative exploration through Quora text data analysis.
title_full The public mental representations of deepfake technology: An in-depth qualitative exploration through Quora text data analysis.
title_fullStr The public mental representations of deepfake technology: An in-depth qualitative exploration through Quora text data analysis.
title_full_unstemmed The public mental representations of deepfake technology: An in-depth qualitative exploration through Quora text data analysis.
title_short The public mental representations of deepfake technology: An in-depth qualitative exploration through Quora text data analysis.
title_sort public mental representations of deepfake technology an in depth qualitative exploration through quora text data analysis
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0313605
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