Cappella, Joseph N

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  • Publication
    The Biological Origins of Automated Patterns of Human Interaction
    (1991-02-01) Cappella, Joseph N
    The biological origins of automated patterns of human interaction are explored. Automated patterns of interaction are distinguished from deliberate patterns. Automated patterns consist of two particular types: stimulation regulation and emotional responsiveness. Evidence for the biological origins of these patterns is obtained by studying the early interactions of infants and neonates, surveying the ethological parallels, exploring the evolutionary adaptiveness of the specific patterns, and ascertaining physiological, psychopharmacological, and brain mechanisms responsible for the patterns. Although circumstantial, the case for a biological basis for stimulation regulation and emotional responsiveness is very suggestive.
  • Publication
    The Social Diffusion of Influence Among Adolescents: Group Interaction in a Chat Room Environment About Antidrug Advertisements
    (2006-01-01) Cappella, Joseph N; David, Clarissa; Fishbein, Martin
    One route to influence in mass communication campaigns to reduce risky behavior is through interpersonal discussion of the content of the campaign and other behaviors pertinent to those targeted by the campaign. The goal of this study was to test the effects of online group interaction among adolescents about anti-marijuana advertisements on relevant attitudes and behaviors. A between subjects post only experimental design was used to test two crossed factors, online chat and strength of arguments in antidrug ads. A sample of 535 students was randomly assigned to one of four conditions: chat and strong argument ads, chat and weak argument ads, no chat and strong argument ads, and no chat and weak argument ads. The group interactions about antidrug ads lead to negative effects such that those who chatted reported more pro-marijuana attitudes and subjective normative beliefs than those who just viewed the ads. No support was found for the hypothesis that strong argument ads would result in more antidrug beliefs relative to weak argument ads in either the chat or the no chat conditions. Overall, these findings suggest that viewing antidrug ads and discussing them with peers may result in deleterious effects in adolescents.
  • Publication
    Lower Nicotine Cigarettes may not Lower Harm
    (2006-11-17) Strasser, Andrew A.; Lerman, Caryn; Cappella, Joseph N
    In 2005, nearly 21% of American adults smoked cigarettes, and 81% of them smoked every day. For smokers unable or unwilling to quit, tobacco products that reduce the adverse health effects of smoking may be an attractive option. Potentially reduced exposure products (PREPs) were developed by the tobacco industry in response to smokers’ health concerns. PREPs purportedly lower the tar and/or nicotine levels of cigarettes, although the actual harm reduced remains questionable. One of the most recent additions to this product class are cigarettes that use genetically modified tobacco to reduce nicotine levels. This Issue Brief summarizes studies that investigate [1] how this product is used and [2] the messages smokers take away from product marketing. These complementary studies send a cautionary signal about the ability of these new cigarettes to reduce the harmful effects of smoking.
  • Publication
    Normative and Informational Influences in Online Political Discussions
    (2006-02-01) Price, Vincent; Cappella, Joseph N.; Nir, Lilach
    How do the statements made by people in online political discussions affect other people's willingness to express their own opinions, or argue for them? And how does group interaction ultimately shape individual opinions? We examine carefully whether and how patterns of group discussion shape (a) individuals' expressive behavior within those discussions and (b) changes in personal opinions. This research proposes that the argumentative "climate" of group opinion indeed affects postdiscussion opinions, and that a primary mechanism responsible for this effect is an intermediate influence on individual participants' own expressions during the online discussions. We find support for these propositions in data from a series of 60 online group discussions, involving ordinary citizens, about the tax plans offered by rival U.S. presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000.
  • Publication
    Behavioral and Judged Coordination in Adult Informal Social Interactions: Vocal and Kinesic Indicators
    (1997) Cappella, Joseph N
    Coordination in social interaction means that persons adjust their actions to those of their partners. Common methods for measuring coordination include judgments and behavioral covariation. Sixteen 1-min segments of interaction were chosen (8 high and 8 low in behavioral coordination). In Study 1, 51 people judged the 16 segments, rating each for coordination. Study 2 (N = 17) used different items. Study 3 (N = 22) replicated Study 2 without sound and with a mosaic pattern imposed on the faces. Results indicated judges were reliable, able to distinguish high from low coordination interactions on the basis of 1-min slices for male but not female dyads. Segments judged to be coordinated had partners smiling in synchrony but with complementary patterns of gazing and gesturing. Both measures correlated with conversational satisfaction, but only behavioral coordination predicted attraction.
  • Publication
    Rules for Responsive Robots: Using Human Interactions to Build Virtual Interactions
    (2002-01-01) Cappella, Joseph N; Pelachaud, Catherine
    Computers seem to be everywhere and to be able to do almost anything. Automobiles have Global Positioning Systems to give advice about travel routes and destinations. Virtual classrooms supplement and sometimes replace face-to-face classroom experiences with web-based systems (such as Blackboard) that allow postings, virtual discussion sections with virtual whiteboards, as well as continuous access to course documents, outlines, and the like. Various forms of “bots” search for information about intestinal diseases, plan airline reservations to Tucson, and inform us of the release of new movies that might fit our cinematic preferences. Instead of talking to the agent at AAA, the professor, the librarian, the travel agent, or the cinema-file two doors down, we are interacting with electronic social agents. Some entrepreneurs are even trying to create toys that are sufficiently responsive to engender emotional attachments between the toy and its owner.
  • Publication
    Framing Public Discussion of Gay Civil Unions
    (2005-01-01) Price, Vincent; Nir, Lilach; Cappella, Joseph N
    Although the framing of public opinion has often been conceptualized as a collective and social process, experimental studies of framing have typically examined only individual, psychological responses to alternative message frames. In this research we employ for the first time group conversations as the unit of analysis (following Gamson 1992) in an experimental study of framing effects. Two hundred and thirty-five American citizens in 50 groups (17 homogeneously conservative groups, 15 homogeneously liberal groups, and 18 heterogeneous groups) discussed whether or not gay and lesbian partnerships should be legally recognized. Groups were randomly assigned to one of two framing conditions (a "homosexual marriage/special rights" frame or a "civil union/equal rights" frame). Results indicated framing effects that were, in all cases, contingent on the ideological leanings of the group. The "marriage" frame tended to polarize group discussions along ideological lines. Both liberal and conservative groups appeared to find their opponents' frame more provocative, responding to them with a larger number of statements and expressing greater ambivalence than when reacting to more hospitable frames.
  • Publication
    Collective Intelligence: The Wisdom and Foolishness of Deliberating Groups
    (2017-08-01) Cappella, Joseph N; Zhang, Jingwen; Price, Vincent
    The rise of the Internet and social media reignites interest in collective intelligence. We frame collective intelligence as follows: (1) Simple aggregation of individual opinion is a poor substitute for reasoned opinion by collectives (i.e., deliberation) except in limited circumstances. (2) What constitutes an intelligent decision on complex matters requires approximations to the ideal of what is intelligent. There is no “gold standard” for intelligent decisions. (3) If collective deliberation is to be useful, then its outcomes must be improved decisions—in short, intelligent outcomes. (4) Deliberation can lead to more intelligent outcomes when opinion, knowledge, and judgment within a collective is diverse and this diversity is expressed. (5) The trends within emerging media toward increasingly narrow, partisan sources of information, toward selective exposure and avoidance, and toward balkanization of collectives will depress the possibilities of collective intelligence that emerging media would on their surface seem to enhance.
  • Publication
    A neural model of valuation and information virality
    (2017-03-14) Scholz, Christin; Baek, Elisa C.; O’Donnell, Matthew B.; Cappella, Joseph N.; Falk, Emily B.; Kim, Hyun Suk
    Information sharing is an integral part of human interaction that serves to build social relationships and affects attitudes and behaviors in individuals and large groups. We present a unifying neurocognitive framework of mechanisms underlying information sharing at scale (virality). We argue that expectations regarding self-related and social consequences of sharing (e.g., in the form of potential for self-enhancement or social approval) are integrated into a domain-general value signal that encodes the value of sharing a piece of information. This value signal translates into population-level virality. In two studies (n = 41 and 39 participants), we tested these hypotheses using functional neuroimaging. Neural activity in response to 80 New York Times articles was observed in theory-driven regions of interest associated with value, self, and social cognitions. This activity then was linked to objectively logged population-level data encompassing n = 117,611 internet shares of the articles. In both studies, activity in neural regions associated with self-related and social cognition was indirectly related to population-level sharing through increased neural activation in the brain’s value system. Neural activity further predicted populationlevel outcomes over and above the variance explained by article characteristics and commonly used self-report measures of sharing intentions. This parsimonious framework may help advance theory, improve predictive models, and inform new approaches to effective intervention. More broadly, these data shed light on the core functions of sharing—to express ourselves in positive ways and to strengthen our social bonds.
  • Publication
    Mutual Adaptation and Relativity of Measurement
    (1991) Cappella, Joseph N