Dare to Fly? Analyzing psychological reactions and travel attitudes of Chinese social media users post-aviation accidents through text mining

Abstract

Background

Commercial air travel is essential to modern society, but aviation accidents can have profound psychological impacts. The public's emotional responses and attitudes toward air travel are shaped by factors such as the severity of the incident and its social repercussions.

Objectives

The study analyzes how the Chinese public's concerns, emotional responses, attributions, and attitudes toward air travel change following aviation accidents with varying severity and social impact. Additionally, it extends the application of the emotion-social information model in disaster scenarios and online behavior, providing valuable insights for crisis management.

Method

The study employs the LDA topic model to identify public concerns, sentiment analysis with an affective dictionary, and Naive Bayes for emotional attribution. Comments before and after the incidents were analyzed using Wilcoxon rank tests to assess changes in attitudes toward air travel.

Results

Public attention focused on victims, causes, and crew responses. Severe accidents elicited sadness, while less severe incidents prompted disgust and fear. Positive societal impacts from accidents improved emotions but did not significantly affect travel attitudes. Negative emotions led to a notable shift in attitudes toward air travel, while positive emotions had a limited effect.

Conclusions

The study provides valuable insights into the emotional dynamics following aviation accidents, enhancing the understanding of the emotion-social information model. It highlights the lasting impact of negative emotions on travel attitudes and the limited influence of positive emotions, with implications for psychological interventions and crisis management.