Steve Rathje

As Andy thoughtfully explains, certain technologies may be new, but our psychology isn't, and decades of psychology research can be used to explain questions like what goes viral online and why people enjoy sycophantic chatbots.

Really enjoyed speaking with @andyluttrell.bsky.social about the psychology of technology after appearing on his podcast a few years ago to discuss science communication.

This month on Opinion Science, I talk with @steverathje.bsky.social about his research on the "psychology of technology." We cover the predictors of what goes viral online and the allure and influence of agreeable AI chatbots.

The Psychology of Virality in the Age of AI Steve Rathje joins me to discuss why conflict goes viral, how social media shapes polarization, and what AI chatbots mean for belief and bias.

In my latest podcast episode, I discuss the psychology of virality with @steverathje.bsky.social, explore how agreeable AI chatbots may influence our beliefs, and examine how scientists can communicate effectively in a noisy, polarized media environment.
matthewfacciani.substack.com/p/the-psycho...

Enjoyed talking with @sudkrc.bsky.social on one of my favorite podcasts, the Stanford Psychology Podcast! We discuss how I got into psychology (it all began at Stanford), my recent work on the psychology of virality and sycophantic AI, and much more.

166 - Steve Rathje: The Psychology of Virality

NEW EPISODE OUT🗣️!! In this episode, Su @sudkrc.bsky.social chats with Dr. Steve Rathje @steverathje.bsky.social on why certain content spreads rapidly online and offline! LISTEN NOW🎧: open.spotify.com/episode/7CoK...

"Using 'virality' as the main way to decide the information people see every day will (like actual viruses) make us sick."

@jayvanbavel.bsky.social and I wrote a column on our recent paper on the psychology of virality. Check it out here: www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/why-some-i...

Why Some Ideas Go Viral—and Most Don’t What decades of research reveal about why certain content spreads—and how social forces shape what we all see.

While studies find that moral outrage & negativity goes viral on social media, this is also true of the offline world. Gossip is also mostly negative & about people we dislike

I explain why some ideas go viral--but most don't with @steverathje.bsky.social
www.powerofusnewsletter.com/p/why-some-i...

🚨 New working paper 🚨

Can LLMs with reasoning + web search reliably fact-check political claims?

We evaluated 15 models from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and DeepSeek on 6,000+ PolitiFact claims (2007–2024).

Short answer: Not reliably—unless you give them curated evidence.

arxiv.org/abs/2511.18749

New research by @steverathje.bsky.social et al
Epistemic Fragility in Large Language Models: Prompt Framing Systematically Modulates Misinformation Correction

WGemini 2.5 Pro had 74% lower odds of strong correction than Claude Sonnet 4.5, highlighting epistemic fragility

arxiv.org/pdf/2511.22746

Are you curious about the results of our #wisdomturingtest? Want to find out who was the AI? If so, tune-in to the second part of the ON WISDOM podcast on the "Wisdom Turing Test," with the amazing @steverathje.bsky.social : onwisdompodcast.fireside.fm/67

#TuringTest #ChineseRoom #AIsycophancy

Abstract and results summary

🚨 New preprint 🚨

Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.

Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!

osf.io/preprints/ps...

Thread 🧵

✨New preprint! Why do people express outrage online? In 4 studies we develop a taxonomy of online outrage motives, test what motives people report, what they infer for in- vs. out-partisans, and how motive inferences shape downstream intergroup consequences. Led by @felix-chenwei.bsky.social 🧵👇

Really enjoyed speaking with tech ethicist Tristan Harris, who you might know from the Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma" or his work with the Center for Humane Technology.

🎥 Watch here on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFm3...

🎧 Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0Oi6...

The Science Behind Why Social Media Makes Us Miserable

I was on the @andrew-yang.bsky.social podcast to discuss the impact of social media.

We discussed what goes viral online, how it impacts our lives, and what we can do about it (with @steverathje.bsky.social):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrDV...

The Science of Smartphones Hello, I hope that you’re doing great.

What do 92% of scientists agree on regarding social media and smartphone use? blog.andrewyang.com/p/the-scienc...

Really enjoyed talking with @andrew-yang.bsky.social and @jayvanbavel.bsky.social about the science of social media. Thanks for having us on your podcast, @andrew-yang.bsky.social

Why does online content seem so angry and emotional? Professors @jayvanbavel.bsky.social and @steverathje.bsky.social join andrewyang.com/podcast to talk the science of social media including why polarization gets revved up by a tiny percentage of accounts.

Why do some ideas spread widely, while others fail to catch on?

Our new review paper on the PSYCHOLOGY OF VIRALITY is now out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social (it was led by @steverathje.bsky.social)

Read the full paper here: www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

📚 Read the full issue here: cell.com/trends/cogni...
📖 Our article here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
📝 And the pre-print here: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Our recent review article "The Psychology of Virality" with @jayvanbavel.bsky.social
is on the front cover of this month's issue of
@cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social.

Would you notice if Gemini or ChatGPT was just flattering you?
Read @steverathje.bsky.social's new preprint to learn about how people actually feel towards overly agreeable chatbots.

OSF: osf.io/preprints/ps...
(summary in thread below!)

Screenshot of paper title: Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence

AI always calling your ideas “fantastic” can feel inauthentic, but what are sycophancy’s deeper harms? We find that in the common use case of seeking AI advice on interpersonal situations—specifically conflicts—sycophancy makes people feel more right & less willing to apologize.

Cool new study by @joelleforestier.bsky.social @page-gould.bsky.social & Alison Chasteen

Can social media contact reduce prejudice?

#PrejudiceResearch

psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

In a new paper, we find that sycophantic #AI chatbots make people more extreme--operating like an echo chamber

Yet, people prefer sycophantic chatbots and see them as less biased

Only open-minded people prefer disagreeable chatbots: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Led by @steverathje.bsky.social

Thanks! Excited to read your book.

So excited to see this research! My students just learned the word “sycophantic” today, for exactly this reason! We talked about the types and qualities of conversations you can have with a sycophant, and why this matters for how we process the output of LLMs.

Cool! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you!!

This is still a working paper, so please let us know if you have any feedback!