SSP Forum: Jeff Hancock on Trust and Well-Being

The
Symbolic Systems Forum
presents

"Rethinking Trust and Well-Being in a Digital Age"

Jeff Hancock
Communication Department

Monday, October 14, 2019
12:30-1:20 pm
Building 460, Room 126 (Margaret Jacks Hall)

ABSTRACT:

A new trust framework is emerging – fueled by social, economic and technological forces that will profoundly alter how we trust, not only what we see and read online, but also one another. At the same time, technology is influencing how we behave and relate to one another, with important implications for our well-being In this talk we will discuss how principles from psychology and communication intersect deception, trust and well-being with technology. We will discuss several  studies that reveal key principles to guide how we think about truth and trust on the internet, and I will report on a new meta-analysis examining every study examining social media and well-being.

BIO:

Jeff Hancock is the Harry and Norman Chandler Professor of Communication at Stanford University, Founding Director of the Social Media Lab and Director of the Stanford Center for Computational Social Science. A leading expert in social media behavior and the psychology of online interaction, Professor Hancock studies the impact of social media and technology on well-being, relationships, deception and trust, how we form impressions of others and how we manage others’ impressions of ourselves, and more.

His research has been published in over 100 journal articles and conference proceedings and has been supported by funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Defense. Professor Hancock’s TED Talk on deception has been seen over 1 million times and his research has been frequently featured in the popular press, including the New York Times, CNN, NPR, CBS and the BBC.

Professor Hancock worked for Canada Customs before earning his PhD in Psychology at Dalhousie University, Canada. He was a Professor of Information Science (and co-Chair) and Communication at Cornell University prior to joining Stanford in 2015. He currently lives in Palo Alto with his wife and daughter, and he regularly gets shot at on the ice as a hockey goalie.