Originally published: . Volume 13, No. 3. Source pages: 6.
The Southeastern Psychological Association will hold is 68th Annual Meeting March 23-26 at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
From the University of Louisiana Lafayette, Taylar Johnson, & Dr. Manyu Li, will present, "Fandom Communities’ Engagement in Black Lives Matters Digital Activism: A Study of Intragroup Processes."
Taylar Johnson, an undergraduate student and a McNair Scholar at the Psychology Department of UL Lafayette, conducted the study under the supervision of Dr. Manyu Li, Assistant Professor in the department. Taylar is the finalist of CEPO Student Award for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) research at the Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association.
The study examined digital activism among a global KPop fandom group. From May to June 2020, fans of the most influential Kpop band, “BTS A.R.M.Y” tweeted extensively to bring the artists' and the fans' attention to the Black Lives Matter (BLM). Their tweets successfully led to more than $2 million donated to the BLM campaign.
This study employed intragroup process theories within social psychology to understand how fans interacted to promote the success of the digital activism. A total of 2,132 tweets were retrieved and analyzed using content analysis performed by three human coders and a computerized method of automated text analysis.
Main findings included: Although close to one-fifth of the tweets showed disapproval of the movement and showed concerns of violation of group norms and group cohesion, more than half of the tweets expressed sense of solidarity, pointing out injustices, and calling for actions.
Self-identified Black members played a significant role in the success of the activism. One strategy was the use of "we" instead of "I" in many of the tweets made by these members, appealing to the group entity and avoiding subjectivity and singling out “I."
The study found that Black A.R.M.Y voices were eventually heard and recognized by mutual effort of Black members and global members who tweet about the needs for justice.
Dr. Manyu Li's research spans the areas of social, community, and cross-cultural psychology, including the topic of place attachment, or the psychology connections that people form with specific places. She is also interested in cross-cultural studies of migration and immigration. Dr. Manyu Li is a recipient of the 2020 Outstanding Master’s Mentor Award, director of the DAISO Lab, and Associate Editor of Current Psychology.
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