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 caret-arrow 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 caret-arrow 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 caret-arrow 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 caret-arrow 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 caret-arrow 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 caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
What Your Facebook Network Reveals about How You Use Your Brain Decades of research have shown that having more numerous and stronger connections predicts better health and well-being, but the shape of your social network matters too. If your friends mostly know each other only indirectly through you, you're likely to be a better problem solver and more successful overall, writes Emily Falk. Communication Marketing Psychology caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
Liberals Do Drink More Lattes, But Maybe Not For the Reasons You Think The term “latte liberal” has been a popular way to disparage American progressives as uppity and out of touch, but does a person’s coffee preference really say something about their political ideology? According to Diana Mutz's new study in PS: Political Science & Politics, it does. Communication Political Science caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
Research Finds Tipping Point for Large-scale Social Change Drawing on more than a decade of experimental work, Damon Centola has developed an online method to test how large scale social dynamics can be changed. He believes environments can be engineered to push people in pro-social directions, and suggests that this work has direct implications for political activism on the Internet. Communication caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
Fear of Losing Status, not Economic Hardship, Drove Voters in 2016 Presidential Election Strong new evidence published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from Diana Mutz supports the idea that many Trump voters are feeling left behind, but not for reasons related to personal financial problems or economic anxiety about the future. Communication Political Science caret-arrow Consensus and Contagion in Society
