BIAS Media Lab
Our focus at the Beliefs, Ideologies, Affect, and Stereotypes (BIAS) Media Lab at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is on exploring how biased media shape public opinion and behavior across different political and cultural contexts.
We explore how beliefs, ideologies, affect, and stereotypes in media platforms preserve, reinforce, and moderate public opinion and human behavior. In our lab, we rely on different combinations of quantitative and qualitative approaches, including a broad range of quantitative methods—notably, experiments, public opinion polls, and human and computational content analysis—as well as qualitative ones, such as in-depth interviews, textual analysis, and participatory observations. Through this interdisciplinary and multi-methodological perspective, we develop a deeper understanding of the use and effects of biased media in both professional and user-centric media, as well as prior beliefs, existing ideologies, affective reactions, and stereotypical beliefs, in shaping and constructing individual opinion and decision making.
The goal of our work is to understand the mechanisms by which individuals, social groups, and nations construct and preserve public opinion and behavior during both stable times and times of conflict and crisis (e.g., wars, economic crises, or pandemics). The lab’s current work focuses on comparative studies of political and social groups, such as ultra-Orthodox and former ultra-Orthodox individuals, LGBTQ individuals, refugees, immigrants, and nations. In our lab, we believe that innovative ideas, combined with rigorous empirical work and collaboration with local and international communities, can produce state-of-the-art research that aims to make the world a better place.
We also use our research to help non-governmental organizations enhance the impact of their activities and integrate social science knowledge and tools into their initiatives.
Five main goals guide our work at the Media and Social BIAS Lab:
Community. Creating a strong, intercultural, and supportive community of people who work together to promote systematic and empirical knowledge in the field of media and communication.
Collaboration. Promoting the importance of research collaboration within and across disciplines and boundaries.
Comparability. Promoting comparative research between countries, across social groups, and over time.
Criticality. Promoting a clear, critical perspective on contemporary research and theory in media and communication, based on the first three pillars—collaboration, community, and comparability.
Diversity. Conducting cross-boundary critical and comparative research by working to promote a diverse group of issues and participants in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, physical abilities, religious beliefs, and political beliefs.
Lab email: bgumedialab [at] gmail.com