Jonas Paul Schöne

I am a DPhil candidate in the Emotion & Social Relation Lab, supervised by Professor Brian Parkinson (University of Oxford | Experimental Psychology Department), Dr Scott Hale (University of Oxford | Oxford Internet Institute), and Professor Amit Goldenberg (Harvard University | Harvard Business School). 

In my research I investigate the spread of emotions in groups, specifically in the political context. As many collective movements such as political campaigns are driven by emotions, it is important to understand what makes emotions spread between people and what happens after they spread. Currently, a significant amount of emotional exchange happens on social media. Considering the huge platforms, this exchange can lead to collective action and political changes. Our goal is to understand (a) what emotion spreads in certain contexts, (b) what is the mechanism of the spread, and (c) what are the consequences of this spread.

My work aims to not only deepen our scientific understanding of social interactions and emotions, but also to inform policy makers and social media providers on how to prevent negative consequences of social media. For this I use mixed methods, combining traditional psychological research techniques with cutting edge online computation.

For more updates, follow me on twitter @JonasP_Schoene.