Psychology of Virality with Professor Steve Rathje

Psychology of Virality with Professor Steve Rathje

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

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Carnegie Mellon University

More episodes of Progression to Analog

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Progression to Analog podcast page.