INS Presents | Google Is Your Friend: Using Search Volume Data to Study Ecological Collective Behavior

The first lecture in INS Presents: The 2020-2021 Faculty Research Series

The ecological study of collective behavior remains a pervasive methodological challenge in social psychology. The psychological processes underlying complex social behavior remain difficult to study due to a constant tradeoff between internal and external validity. A number of recent advances have been made by taking advantage of the massive amount of behavioral data available from social media and cyberspace. Among these, a powerful technique relies on analyzing search volume data (i.e., Google searches). Combining search volume analysis to research in psychology showing that linguistic markers (e.g., absolutist language) reflect specific mental states (e.g., anxiety), Dr. Jaïs Adam-Troïan introduces a novel method to study collective behavior in an ecological way. As a demonstration, Dr. Adam-Troïan will present two recent empirical studies applied to suicide and collective action behaviors.

The presentation can be accessed through this link.

About the Speaker

Dr. Jaïs Adam-Troïan is Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of International Studies (INS) in the AUS College of Arts and Sciences. A social psychologist and researcher, Dr. Adam-Troïan joined the faculty of the Bachelor of Arts in Psychology program in Fall Semester 2020.

For more information, please contact [email protected].