Applying Text Analysis to Evaluate the Common Knowledge Effect on Discussion Processes

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to examine the appropriateness of text analysis in an experimental study to ascertain the common knowledge effect on the discussion process. Two mock jury experiments were conducted wherein 204 participants were given information about a fictitious murder case, choosing from verdicts of “guilty”, “not guilty”, and “presumed innocent”. Experiment 1 set conditions using the information distributed to each group member. Latent Dirichlet allocation topic model was conducted to explore topics in chatlogs that would be influenced by the information allocated to each member. ANOVA revealed that the experimental conditions, “sharing (high/low) × information (alibi/dummy)” had effects on topic ratios. Experiment 2 investigated false memory related to the topics identified in Experiment 1. The results of the Deese, Roediger, and McDermott experiments conducted pre and post-discussion revealed that false memories increased post-discussion. Mediation analysis suggested that a certain topic ratio correlated with false memory.