From Social Media to Empathic Artificial Intelligence: Applying Past Lessons to Future Technologies [PDF]→

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Rodriguez, M., Motyl, M., & Schroeder, J. (2026). From social media to empathic artificial intelligence: Applying past lessons to future technologies. In Cameron, C. D., & Perry, A. (Eds.) Empathy and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges, Advances, and Ethical Considerations. Cambridge University Press.

  • Short Summary: This chapter synthesizes two decades of research on social media to extract lessons for new forms of social technology like GenAI. It recommends future research on social technology consider three sources of heterogeneity — 1) the type and features of the technology, 2) how it is used, and 3) who is using it — to better understand how tech will affect social life.

  • This chapter leverages the Neely Social Media Index and Neely Technology Indices. Interested readers can see the links for more information. 

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The Ordinary And Extraordinary Struggle of Social Life: Perceiving, Understanding, And Connecting with Other Minds [PDF]→

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Schroeder, J. (2024). The ordinary and extraordinary struggle of social life: Perceiving, understanding, and connecting with other minds. In Carlston, D., Johnson, K., & Hugenberg, K. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Social Cognition. Oxford University Press. [The Oxford Handbook of Social Cognition Link]

  • Short Summary: This chapter highlights challenges and opportunities for mind perception (how people attribute mental capacity to others) and mind reading (how people assess others’ mental states) through the lens of six different types of “minds.” Three minds illustrate forms of mind perception—invisible minds, those we cannot directly experience, dehumanized minds, those that seem weaker than our own, and anthropomorphized minds, those that we perceive but may not actually exist. The other three illustrate mind reading—misread and misunderstood minds, those that are apparent but not accurately inferred, and unlocked minds, those that can be accurately read using effective communication.

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The Lesser Minds Problem [PDF]→

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Waytz, A., Schroeder, J., & Epley, N. (2014). The lesser minds problem. In Bain, P., Vaes, J., & Leyens, J. P. (Eds.) Humanness and Dehumanization (pp. 49-67). New York, NY: Psychology Press. [APA PsycNet Link]

  • Short Summary: A common psychological bias is assuming others have less active and sophisticated mind than we do. This paper identifies three forms of this “Lesser Minds Problem” and its consequences.

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Motivated Mind Perception: Treating Pets as People and People as Animals [PDF] →

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Epley, N., Schroeder, J., & Waytz, A. (2013). Motivated mind perception: Treating pets as people and people as animals. In Gervais, S. (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 60, pp 127–152). Springer: New York. [Springer Link]

  • Short Summary: This paper proposes that anthropomorphism is guided by two primary motives, the need to explain behavior and the need to connect with others.

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