Psychology of Virality with Professor Steve Rathje
From Progression to Analog by Caitlin Begg
August 25, 2025 · 47 min · Season 3 · Episode 1
About this episode
Professor Steve Rathje discusses the psychology behind virality and the dynamics of content sharing in the digital age.
Steve Rathje, Incoming Assistant Professor of Human Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, joins us to kick off season three of Progression to Analog! You may know Steve from his TikTok @stevepsychology (1M+ followers). We discuss the psychology of virality and why info spreads offline and online, the paradox of virality and why people share negative content online even though they claim to not want negative content, smartphone bans, cross-cultural social media trends, and more.
People in this episode
Host: Caitlin Begg
Guest: Steve Rathje
Topics covered
- psychology of virality
- information spread
- social media trends
- negative content sharing
- smartphone bans
Keywords
- virality
- psychology
- social media
- information spread
- negative content
- smartphone bans
- cross-cultural trends
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Carnegie Mellon University
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