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 Data tutorial plan survey (due 9/29)
10/3 Curiosity and information seeking Data tutorial draft (due 10/6)
10/10 Collective memory
10/17 Data tutorial presentations Data tutorial
10/24 Social interactions Participation reflection
10/31 Nudging
11/7 Misinformation
11/14 Mental health
11/21 Artificial intelligence Op-ed pitch
12/5 Humor/Activism 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. If you can’t access a reading for some reason, just let me know and I can send you the PDF.

Student choice note: The six topics for Module 2 were chosen by you, as a class. You can find the un-chosen topics here.

Module 1: Psychology with the Internet

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

9/19: Emotion expression

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. A., Blain, B., & Sharot, T. (2024). “How” web searches change under stress. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 15147. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-65895-4 (9 pages)
  • Play around with trends.google.com and record your searches on the Explore page. What can the Trending Now page tell you about what people are thinking about, and what can the Explore page tell you about what people have thought about in the past? How might the information provided be used in psychology research?

10/10: Collective memory

  • Michel, J.-B., Shen, Y. K., Aiden, A. P., Veres, A., Gray, M. K., The Google Books Team, Pickett, J. P., Hoiberg, D., Clancy, D., Norvig, P., Orwant, J., Pinker, S., Nowak, M. A., & Aiden, E. L. (2011). Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books. Science, 331(6014), 176–182. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1199644 (6 pages)
  • García-Gavilanes, R., Mollgaard, A., Tsvetkova, M., & Yasseri, T. (2017). The memory remains: Understanding collective memory in the digital age. Science Advances, 3(4), e1602368. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1602368 (5 pages)
  • West, R., Leskovec, J., & Potts, C. (2021). Postmortem memory of public figures in news and social media. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(38), e2106152118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2106152118 (8 pages)
  • Take a look at some data visualizations with Wikipedia data from The Pudding: here, here, here, and here. How might these types of analyses be applied to psychology research?

Module 2: Psychology about the Internet

10/24: Social interactions

  • Kou, Y., Johansson, M., & Verhagen, H. (2017). Prosocial behavior in an online game community: An ethnographic study. Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1145/3102071.3102078 (6 pages)
  • Pandita, S., Garg, K., Zhang, J., & Mobbs, D. (2024). Three roots of online toxicity: Disembodiment, accountability, and disinhibition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, S1364661324001426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.06.001 (12 pages)
  • Find and save 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. Take notes on similarities and differences between these interactions and typical offline interactions.

AND read either of the following:

  • 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)
  • Hoffner, C. A., & Bond, B. J. (2022). Parasocial relationships, social media, & well-being. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45, 101306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101306 (4 pages)

10/31: 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)
  • Grüning, D. J., Riedel, F., & Lorenz-Spreen, P. (2023). Directing smartphone use through the self-nudge app one sec. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(8), e2213114120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213114120 (8 pages)
  • Use the app one sec on your phone and/or as a browser extension and record how it impacts your screen time.

11/7: Misinformation and disinformation

  • Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2021). The psychology of fake news. Trends in cognitive sciences, 25(5), 388-402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.007 (13 pages)
  • Globig, L. K., Holtz, N., & Sharot, T. (2023). Changing the incentive structure of social media platforms to halt the spread of misinformation. Elife, 12, e85767. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.85767 (19 pages)
  • Allen, J., Watts, D. J., & Rand, D. G. (2024). Quantifying the impact of misinformation and vaccine-skeptical content on Facebook. Science, 384(6699), eadk3451. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk3451
  • Find an instance of misinformation (or true information lacking context) on social media, shared/posted in the past few weeks. What makes that post believable (or not believable)? What is the impact you think it will have?

11/14: Mental health

  • Twenge, J. M. (2020). Increases in Depression, Self‐Harm, and Suicide Among U.S. Adolescents After 2012 and Links to Technology Use: Possible Mechanisms. Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice, 2(1), 19–25. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.prcp.20190015 (6 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)
  • Odgers, C. L., Schueller, S. M., & Ito, M. (2020). Screen Time, Social Media Use, and Adolescent Development. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 2(1), 485–502. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-084815 (14 pages)

11/21: Artificial intelligence

  • Strachan, J. W. A., Albergo, D., Borghini, G., Pansardi, O., Scaliti, E., Gupta, S., Saxena, K., Rufo, A., Panzeri, S., Manzi, G., Graziano, M. S. A., & Becchio, C. (2024). Testing theory of mind in large language models and humans. Nature Human Behaviour, 8(7), 1285–1295. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01882-z (7 pages)
  • Costello, T. H., Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2024). Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI. Science, 385(6714). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq1814 (10 pages)
  • De Freitas, J., Agarwal, S., Schmitt, B., & Haslam, N. (2023). Psychological factors underlying attitudes toward AI tools. Nature Human Behavior, 7(11), 1845–1854. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01734-2 (7 pages)
  • Use debunkbot. Write down some of your thoughts when using it. Did it work? How did it compare to other people who you’ve talked to about the issue you submitted?

12/5: Humor/Activism

  • 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)
  • 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)
  • 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.)