Schedule and readings

Course calendar

Date Topic Assignments due
9/5 Introduction to the course
9/12 Ethics Syllabus quiz
9/19 Emotion
9/26 Social networks
10/3 Curiosity and information seeking Data tutorial draft
10/10 Collective memory Participation reflection
10/17 Data tutorial presentations Data tutorial
10/24 Student choice! (See note below)
10/31 Student choice!
11/7 Student choice!
11/14 Student choice!
11/21 Student choice! Op-ed pitch
12/5 Student choice! Due 12/12: Final op-ed + supplement

Note on readings

Readings for each topic should be completed by the date listed in the above table. “Readings” doesn’t necessarily just mean reading scientific literature. Sometimes it means reading newspaper articles, watching videos, listening to podcast episodes, using a program, or exploring a corner of the internet. All links to readings are included in the reading list citations below.

Student choice note: The six topics for Module 2 will be chosen by you, from a list of ten topics. The ten topics are organized into five pairs. For each pair of topics, you as a class will vote on which topic you would prefer to be part of the syllabus. The losing topic in the pair of topics with the most even vote split will also be part of the syllabus, for a total of six topics. We will vote during the second class session. After voting, I will update the syllabus with the correct course calendar and readings. The topic pairs you will vote on are as follows:

Module 1: Psychology with the Internet

9/12: Ethics of using the internet for psychology research

9/19: Emotion expression

  • Luhmann, M. (2017). Using big data to study subjective well-being. Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 18, 28-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.07.006 (4 pages)
  • Metzler, H., Rimé, B., Pellert, M., Niederkrotenthaler, T., Di Natale, A., & Garcia, D. (2023). Collective emotions during the COVID-19 outbreak. Emotion, 23(3), 844. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/emo0001111 (13 pages)
  • Goldenberg, A., & Gross, J. J. (2020). Digital Emotion Contagion. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24(4), 316–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.01.009(10 pages)
  • Play around with the LIWC free trial with social media texts from any platform of your choosing. Pay particular attention to the authentic summary variable.

9/26: Social networks

10/3: Curiosity and information seeking

  • Lydon-Staley, D. M., Zhou, D., Blevins, A. S., Zurn, P., & Bassett, D. S. (2021). Hunters, busybodies and the knowledge network building associated with deprivation curiosity. Nature human behaviour, 5(3), 327-336. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-00985-7 (9 pages)
  • Kelly, C., & Sharot, T. (2024). Knowledge-Seeking Reflects and Shapes Well-Being. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/yd6j5 (15 pages)
  • Play around with trends.google.com

10/10: Collective memory

Module 2: Psychology about the internet

Note: This section will be updated with dates once topics are chosen. The topic pairs you will vote on are as follows:

TBD: Impression formation and self-presentation

  • Krämer, N. C., & Schäwel, J. (2020). Mastering the challenge of balancing self-disclosure and privacy in social media. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 67–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.003 (4 pages)
  • Brady, W. J., McLoughlin, K. L., Torres, M. P., Luo, K. F., Gendron, M., & Crockett, M. J. (2023). Overperception of moral outrage in online social networks inflates beliefs about intergroup hostility. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(6), 917–927. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01582-0 (10 pages)
  • Schlosser, A. E. (2020). Self-disclosure versus self-presentation on social media. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.025 (4 pages)
  • Look at the social media accounts of some of your good friends, and see if you can imagine how your impression of them might differ if you didn’t know them

TBD: Social interactions

  • Ryan, S., McDonnell, D., & Meade, S. (2020). “Lock, Load, n’ Thank the Driver”: The Positive Influence of Prosocial Activity on Language in Online Social Groups. Social Media + Society, 6(2), 205630512091399. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120913990 (7 pages)
  • Lieberman, A., & Schroeder, J. (2020). Two social lives: How differences between online and offline interaction influence social outcomes. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 16–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.022 (4 pages)
  • Combs, A., Tierney, G., Guay, B., Merhout, F., Bail, C. A., Hillygus, D. S., & Volfovsky, A. (2023). Reducing political polarization in the United States with a mobile chat platform. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(9), 1454–1461. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01655-0 (6 pages)
  • Find threads of people interacting on at least two different platforms and save screenshots of the interactions. Could be Reddit, comments on social media posts, comments on a forum, etc.

TBD: Nudging and decision-making

  • Lorenz-Spreen, P., Lewandowsky, S., Sunstein, C. R., & Hertwig, R. (2020). How behavioural sciences can promote truth, autonomy and democratic discourse online. Nature human behaviour, 4(11), 1102-1109. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0889-7 (6 pages)
  • Wu, A. X., Taneja, H., & Webster, J. G. (2021). Going with the flow: Nudging attention online. New Media & Society, 23(10), 2979-2998. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820941183 (18 pages)
  • Use the app one sec on your phone and as a browser extension

TBD: Misinformation and disinformation

TBD: Mental health

  • Twenge, J. M. (2020). Why increases in adolescent depression may be linked to the technological environment. Current Opinion in Psychology, 32, 89–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.036 (5 pages)
  • Kross, E., Verduyn, P., Sheppes, G., Costello, C. K., Jonides, J., & Ybarra, O. (2021). Social Media and Well-Being: Pitfalls, Progress, and Next Steps. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(1), 55–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.10.005 (10 pages)
  • Beyens, I., Pouwels, J. L., Van Driel, I. I., Keijsers, L., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2020). The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 10763. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67727-7 (9 pages)

TBD: Changes to cognition

  • Firth, J., Torous, J., Stubbs, B., Firth, J. A., Steiner, G. Z., Smith, L., Alvarez‐Jimenez, M., Gleeson, J., Vancampfort, D., Armitage, C. J., & Sarris, J. (2019). The “online brain”: How the Internet may be changing our cognition. World Psychiatry, 18(2), 119–129. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20617 (9 pages)
  • Uncapher, M. R., & Wagner, A. D. (2018). Minds and brains of media multitaskers: Current findings and future directions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(40), 9889–9896. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611612115 (7 pages)
  • Heersmink, R. (2016). The Internet, Cognitive Enhancement, and the Values of Cognition. Minds and Machines, 26(4), 389–407. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-016-9404-3 (16 pages)

TBD: Artificial intelligence

  • Pataranutaporn, P., Liu, R., Finn, E., & Maes, P. (2023). Influencing human–AI interaction by priming beliefs about AI can increase perceived trustworthiness, empathy and effectiveness. Nature Machine Intelligence, 5(10), 1076–1086. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-023-00720-7 (8 pages)
  • De Freitas, J., Agarwal, S., Schmitt, B., & Haslam, N. (2023). Psychological factors underlying attitudes toward AI tools. Nature Human Behaviour, 7(11), 1845–1854. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01734-2 (7 pages)
  • Chat with at least three different AI chatbots and save your conversations with them. Talk to them about anything you’d like: your day, a current dilemma, etc.

TBD: Folk beliefs

  • Dogruel, L. (2021). Folk theories of algorithmic operations during Internet use: A mixed methods study. The Information Society, 37(5), 287-298. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2021.1949768 (10 pages)
  • Huang, S. A., Hancock, J., & Tong, S. T. (2022). Folk theories of online dating: Exploring people’s beliefs about the online dating process and online dating algorithms. Social Media+ Society, 8(2), 20563051221089561. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221089561 (10 pages)
  • Try to find a description from a tech company about how their algorithm works

TBD: Humor and memes

  • Wong, E. F., & Holyoak, K. J. (2021). Cognitive and motivational factors driving sharing of internet memes. Memory & Cognition, 49(5), 863–872. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-020-01134-1 (9 pages)
  • Akram, U., & Drabble, J. (2022). Mental health memes: Beneficial or aversive in relation to psychiatric symptoms? Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(1), 370. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01381-4 (5 pages)
  • Pick a humorous meme that is popular now or has been popular recently. Save some examples of variations of the meme, and try to find its origin. https://knowyourmeme.com/ may prove useful.

TBD: Activism

  • Leach, C. W., & Allen, A. M. (2017). The Social Psychology of the Black Lives Matter Meme and Movement. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), 543–547. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721417719319 (4 pages)
  • Greijdanus, H., De Matos Fernandes, C. A., Turner-Zwinkels, F., Honari, A., Roos, C. A., Rosenbusch, H., & Postmes, T. (2020). The psychology of online activism and social movements: Relations between online and offline collective action. Current Opinion in Psychology, 35, 49–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.03.003 (4 pages)
  • Priante, A., Ehrenhard, M. L., Van Den Broek, T., & Need, A. (2018). Identity and collective action via computer-mediated communication: A review and agenda for future research. New Media & Society, 20(7), 2647–2669. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817744783 (18 pages)