Misguided: The Podcast The Psychology of Virality in the Age of AI
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Jan 20, 2026 Dr. Steve Rathje, a social psychology researcher and incoming assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon, dives deep into the psychology behind virality and social media. He discusses how posts targeting political outgroups often go viral, revealing the algorithmic bias towards outrage and conflict. Rathje shares promising research on reducing animosity through unfollowing hyper-partisan influencers. He also explores the implications of sycophantic AI chatbots and how they can inadvertently reinforce belief extremity.
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From Theater To Social Psychology
- Steve Rathje started in theater and shifted to psychology after an inspiring class at Stanford.
- He later combined theatrical curiosity with big-data social media research on virality.
Outgroup Attacks Fuel Virality
- Out-group attacks drive far more sharing than negativity or moral language alone.
- Each out-group term increased shares by about 67%, often provoking anger and mockery reactions.
Trim Toxic Follows, Add Better Sources
- Curate your feed by unfollowing hyper-partisan, low-quality influencers to reduce out-party animosity.
- Replace toxic follows with reliable science or accurate accounts to slightly boost well-being.