Affect in science communication: a data-driven analysis of TED Talks on YouTube

Science communication is evolving: Increasingly, it is directed at the public rather than academic peers. Understanding the circumstances under which the public engages with scientific content is therefore crucial to improving science communication. In this article, we investigate the role of affect on audience engagement with a modern form of science communication: TED Talks on the social media platform YouTube. We examined how two aspects of affect, valence and density are associated with public engagement with the talk in terms of popularity (reflecting views and likes) and polarity (reflecting dislikes and comments). We found that the valence of TED Talks was associated with both popularity and polarity: Positive valence was linked to higher talk popularity and lower talk polarity. Density, on the other hand, was only associated with popularity: Higher affective density was linked to higher popularity—even more so than valence—but not polarity. Moreover, the association between affect and engagement was moderated by talk topic, but not by whether the talk included scientific content. Our results establish affect as an important covariate of audience engagement with scientific content on social media, which science communicators may be able to leverage to steer engagement and increase reach

Differences in faces do make a difference: Diversity perceptions and preferences in faces

Throughout previous research focusing on individuals' diversity perception, it remains somewhat unclear which attributes (i.e., objective diversity) are reflected in perceptions of diversity. This manuscript investigates whether individuals consider objective differences in ambiguous facial information (which are not related to gender or race) when making diversity judgments and decisions. Throughout seven studies, facial information of group members was manipulated to appear more similar or different in regards to personality and information unrelated to Big 5 dimensions, while race, gender, and age were kept constant. Study 1a provides support that objective differences in facial information related to perceived personality traits is validly reflected in perceptions of diversity. Study 1b shows that results regarding the Big 5 can be replicated in an ensemble-coding setup. Studies 2a and 2b replicate this result, additionally showing that objective differences in facial information unrelated to the Big 5 are reflected in perceptions of diversity, too. Focusing on perceived extraversion, Study 3 reveals that individuals select faces differing (similar) in extraversion information in order to assemble a diverse (homogeneous) team. Study 4 investigates diversity choices in an ambiguous setting, showing that individuals who more strongly believe in the value of diversity are more likely to assemble a team that is objectively diverse regarding facial information. Study 5 indicates that the association between diversity in facial information and choices deteriorates if other attributes such as gender are varied too. The impact of the results for research is highlighted and discussed