Echo Chambers May Not Be as Dangerous as You Think, New Study Finds

In the wake of the 2016 American presidential election, western media outlets have become almost obsessed with echo chambers. A new PNAS study from Damon Centola shows that collective intelligence — peer learning within social networks — can increase belief accuracy even in politically homogenous groups.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Black and white pictures of black cats walking through the road to the other side.

How superstitions spread

In a new analysis driven by game theory, Erol Akçay devised a model that shows how superstitious beliefs can become established in a society’s social norms. Akçay's work demonstrates how groups of individuals can evolve a coordinated set of behaviors that are enforced by a set of consistent social norms.

Biology

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Diana Mutz Wins 2019 AAPOR Book Award

Diana Mutz was recently named the winner of the 2019 Book Award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) for her book Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative versus Participatory Democracy (Cambridge 2006).

Communication
Political Science

Consensus and Contagion in Society

González-Bailón Named 2019-20 Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences Fellow

Sandra González-Bailón has been named a 2019-20 Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciencesat Stanford University. Since 1954, this year-long program has been bringing scholars from across the United States and around the globe to live and conduct research together at Stanford.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

The Virality Paradox

Damon Centola thinks the contemporary wisdom about how behavior spreads is missing something fundamental—and that may be why mindless trivialities crowd out civic engagement. Can anything be done? He has an idea or two.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Thinking Beyond Yourself Can Make You More Open to Healthy Lifestyle Choices

A new study from Emily Falk found that a simple priming exercise in which sedentary people think beyond themselves before viewing health messages can make those messages more effective. Not only did participants’ brain activity show that they were more receptive to the messages, but they actually became more physically active after.

Communication
Marketing
Psychology

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Can Social Media Networks Reduce Political Polarization on Climate Change?

Social media networks, which often foster partisan antagonism, may also offer a solution to reducing political polarization, according to new findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from a team led by Damon Centola.

Communication

Consensus and Contagion in Society

People Who Don’t Read the News Are Better at Predicting Which Articles Will Go Viral, Study Finds

In an upcoming article in the journal Cerebral Cortex, Emily Falk and co-authors analyzed the brain responses of 40 people as they read real New York Times health article headlines and abstracts. Which individuals were best able to predict the popularity of those articles? Those who don’t regularly read the news.

Communication
Marketing
Psychology

Consensus and Contagion in Society

The Dawn of a New Meritocracy

Higher education admissions have hit a watershed moment. Colleges need to consider the implications of the move away from standardized testing in admissions and what will replace the current hegemony of high stakes college admission tests, writes Ezekiel Dixon-Román.

Social Policy

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Understanding the social dynamics that cause cooperation to thrive, or fail

Studying the conditions that give rise to cooperation has occupied researchers for generations, with implications for understanding the forces that drive workplace dynamics, charitable giving, animal behavior, and more. Erol Akçay shows how certain types of social networks can paradoxically lead to cooperation’s collapse.

Biology

Consensus and Contagion in Society