Jeff Hancock is founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab and is a Professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. Professor Hancock and his group work on understanding psychological and interpersonal processes in social media. The team specializes in using computational linguistics and experiments to understand how the words we use can reveal psychological and social dynamics, such as deception and trust, emotional dynamics, intimacy and relationships, and social support. Recently Professor Hancock has begun work on understanding the mental models people have about algorithms in social media, as well as working on the ethical issues associated with computational social science. His research has been published in over 80 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. His work on lying and technology has been frequently featured in the popular press, including the New York Times, CNN, NPR, CBS and the BBC. In this talk, Jeff examines…

1. The truth bias, or our default to trust other people and messages, is crucial to healthy communities.
2. The concerns we have about fake news may be eroding that truth bias and undermining how people within communities trust one another.
3. Media practices are changing in response to fake news and people’s trust needs, with an increased emphasis on the local and increased focus on one’s communities.