The psychology of virality by Steve Rathje & Jay J. Van Bavel instant download

The psychology of virality by Steve Rathje & Jay J. Van Bavel instant download

Why do some ideas spread widely, while others fail to catch on? Here, we review Highlights the psychology of information spread, or the psychology of ‘virality’. Similar Similar types of information types of information tend to spread in many contexts, both online and offline. (e.g., negative, high-arousal, or moral information) tend to spread This is likely because similar psychological processes drive information spread both online via social media and across contexts. We explain how these psychological processes interact with offline via gossip. structural features of information environments, including norms, networks, and incentive structures. Surprisingly, widely shared content is often not widely The ‘information as a virus’ metaphor is often used to describe the process of inliked, a phenomenon called ‘the paradox of virality’. We discuss the strengths formation spread [e.g., some types of inand limitations of the information-as-virus metaphor. We also discuss future diformation are more contagious than rections for the field, such as leveraging recent advances in artificial intelligence others, and ‘superspreaders’ contribute (AI) to better understand how information spreads across cultures and contexts. to mmet