Social Cognition and Disinformation: A Psychosocial Reading of the Ratna Sarumpaet Case
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58812/wsshs.v3i07.2119Keywords:
Social Cognition, Attribution , Schemas , Cognitive Biases, Social Perception , Ratna SarumpaetAbstract
This study aims to analyze the dynamics of social cognition in the case of public deception committed by Ratna Sarumpaet in 2018. Using a qualitative case study approach and a social cognition theoretical framework, this study examines how the public forms perceptions, makes social attributions, and how cognitive schemas and biases play a role in responding to narratives presented by public actors. The analysis reveals that public acceptance of false narratives is significantly influenced by existing social schemas, confirmation bias, representative heuristics, and social identity factors. This case underscores the importance of understanding social cognition processes in the digital age, where information spreads rapidly and perceptions are shaped within social interaction spaces saturated with emotions and ideological interests. This study recommends strengthening media literacy and developing critical awareness as preventive measures against disinformation and public opinion manipulation.
References
[1] S. Baggio, “La cognition sociale,” Le point sur... Psychol., vol. 2, pp. 45–65, 2011.
[2] M. S. Kim and Y. S. Seo, “Social cognitive predictors of academic interests and goals in South Korean engineering students,” J. Career Dev., vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 526–546, 2014.
[3] R. J. Crisp, R. Meleady, and R. Turner, “Essential social psychology,” 2024.
[4] G. B. Moskowitz, Social cognition: Understanding self and others. Guilford Publications, 2013.
[5] G. V Bodenhausen and J. R. Morales, “Social cognition and perception,” Handb. Psychol., vol. 5, pp. 225–246, 2013.
[6] B. P. Ervitasari and B. A. Suparno, “THE FIREHOUSE OF FALSEHOOD OF RATNA SARUMPAET’S HOAX IN MEDIA FRAME,” Indones. J. Commun. Stud., vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 28–40, 2020.
[7] S. Sundari and U. Salamah, “Gatewatching behind the beating case of ratna sarumpaet in tribunnews. com and Detik. com,” Komunikator, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 28–37, 2019.
[8] L. Tomasoa, A. Iriani, and I. Sembiring, “Ekstraksi Knowledge tentang Penyebaran# Ratnamiliksiapa pada Jejaring Sosial (Twitter) menggunakan Social Network Analysis (SNA),” J. Teknol. Inf. Dan Ilmu Komput., vol. 6, no. 6, p. 677, 2019.
[9] E. SANJAYA, “Mata Kuliah Filsafat Pancasila ‘Kasus Berita Hoax oleh Ratna Sarumpaet,’” 2019.
[10] T. Suharman, “Exploiting Indonesia’s Turmoil: Provocative Media Framing in Criminal Cases—Ethical Reporting or Misleading Narratives?,” Indones. Media Law Rev., vol. 3, no. 1, 2024.
[11] R. Adolphs, “Social cognition and the human brain,” Trends Cogn. Sci., vol. 3, no. 12, pp. 469–479, 1999.
[12] M. Wen and Q. Ren, “Cognitive and psychological health implications of living alone among middle-aged and older adults in China,” Asian Popul. Stud., vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 181–200, 2021.
[13] J. Gagnon, W. S. Kim, and P. Jolicoeur, “The influence of social knowledge structures on hostile attribution bias in aggressive and nonaggressive individuals: An ERP study,” Neuropsychologia, vol. 202, p. 108958, 2024.
[14] S. D. Muthukumaraswamy and B. W. Johnson, “A dual mechanism neural framework for social understanding,” Philos. Psychol., vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 43–63, 2007.
[15] A. M. Koenig, “Situational Attributions,” Encycl. Cross‐Cultural Psychol., vol. 3, pp. 1185–1186, 2013.
[16] Y. Granot and E. Balcetis, “Fundamental attribution error,” Encycl. Cross‐Cultural Psychol., vol. 2, pp. 576–578, 2013.
[17] M. Toyama, “INFERENCE PROCESS IN ATTRIBUTION OF OTHERS’BEHAVIOR AN EXAMINATION OF THE DISCOUNTING AND AUGMENTATION PRINCIPLE,” JAPANESE J. Exp. Soc. Psychol., vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 23–35, 1984.
[18] S. Topolinski, “Intuition: Introducing affect into cognition,” in Reasoning as memory, Psychology Press, 2014, pp. 146–163.
[19] F. Strack and J. Förster, Social cognition: The basis of human interaction. Psychology Press, 2011.
[20] J. Ehrlinger, W. O. Readinger, and B. Kim, “Decision-making and cognitive biases,” Encycl. Ment. Heal., vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 83–87, 2016.
[21] A. Todorov, “The social perception of faces,” SAGE Handb. Soc. Cogn., pp. 96–114, 2012.
[22] G. Lo Dico, “Self-perception theory, radical behaviourism, and the publicity/privacy issue,” Rev. Philos. Psychol., vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 429–445, 2018.
[23] R. M. Harlow, “Impression management,” Int. Encycl. Strateg. Commun., pp. 1–5, 2018.
[24] M. R. Joslyn and D. P. Haider-Markel, “Social Identities and the Attribution of Blame,” Available SSRN 1672555, 2010.
[25] B. Major and C. R. Kaiser, “Perceiving and claiming discrimination,” Handb. Employ. Discrim. Res. Rights realities, pp. 285–299, 2005.
[26] I. Farkaš, “Transforming Cognition and Human Society in the Digital Age,” Biol. Theory, pp. 1–13, 2024.
[27] C. Mukerji, “11 The collective construction of scientific genius,” Cogn. Commun. Work, p. 257, 1996.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Pratika Martha Lena, Vita Balqis D, Sherin Yosia, Hayu Lusianawati
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Facebook 
Instagram 
Twitter 
Youtube 
westscience.journals@gmail.com