When sharks attack: How individual experience and collective framework aid sense-making
Author
Kure, Lærke Kromann
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2015
Pages
72
Abstract
Against the backdrop of the February 14–15, 2015 shootings in Copenhagen, this thesis explores how individuals make sense of sudden, violent events and of each other’s actions in the ensuing public debate. It first outlines meaning as a psychological concept, drawing on evolutionary perspectives to discuss the possible adaptive benefits of a sense-making capacity and to define meaning as a conscious, self-regulatory process that helps the individual organize itself in relation to the environment. Empirically, the study conducts an interpretative phenomenological analysis of comments posted on three Facebook pages connected to the events: the attack and the perpetrator, a young woman’s act of laying flowers where the perpetrator was killed, and a politician’s controversial post about that gesture. The analysis identifies three corresponding themes of sense-making: causal explanations and responsibility attributions regarding the attack (often involving identification with or distancing from the perpetrator); moral judgments that accept or reject the woman’s stated intentions; and inferences about the politician’s motives based on prior preconceptions. Across all cases, commenters also use imagination to bridge information gaps and navigate meanings proposed by others. The findings suggest that online sense-making is a creative, dynamic, and self-regulatory process that goes beyond information processing, engages theory of mind, and is shaped by the interplay between personal experience and shared cultural frameworks. The study highlights social media as a valuable arena for observing contemporary meaning construction.
Med udgangspunkt i skudangrebene i København den 14.–15. februar 2015 undersøger dette speciale, hvordan mennesker skaber mening om pludselige, voldsomme begivenheder og om hinandens handlinger i den efterfølgende offentlige debat. Først skitseres mening som et psykologisk begreb med inspiration fra evolutionær psykologi for at diskutere mulige adaptive fordele ved en meningsskabende kapacitet og definere mening som en bevidst, selvregulerende proces, der hjælper individet med at organisere sig i relation til omgivelserne. Empirisk gennemføres en interpretativ fænomenologisk analyse af kommentarer på tre Facebook-sider knyttet til begivenhederne: selve angrebet og gerningsmanden, en ung kvindes gestus med at lægge blomster på stedet hvor gerningsmanden blev dræbt, samt en politikers kontroversielle opslag om denne gestus. Analysen identificerer tre tilsvarende temaer for meningsdannelse: kausale forklaringer og ansvarstilskrivninger vedrørende angrebet (ofte med identifikation med eller afstandtagen fra gerningsmanden); moralske vurderinger, der accepterer eller afviser kvindens udtalte intentioner; og slutninger om politikerens motiver baseret på forudfattede antagelser. På tværs af cases bruger kommentatorerne også fantasien til at udfylde informationshuller og navigere i andres betydningstilbud. Fundene peger på, at meningsskabelse online er en kreativ, dynamisk og selvregulerende proces, der rækker ud over ren informationsbehandling, involverer theory of mind, og formes af samspillet mellem personlige erfaringer og fælles kulturelle rammer. Studiet fremhæver sociale medier som en værdifuld arena for at observere nutidig meningskonstruktion.
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