Joe Walther

About

Joseph B. Walther holds the Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a Distinguished Professor of Communication. He is also a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. His work has developed several original theories and numerous empirical studies on the interpersonal aspects of computer-mediated communication and social media. His research focuses on the impact of interpersonal and intergroup dynamics in the attitudes and behaviors people develop via mediated interaction, including personal relationships, groups, and intergroup conflict. He is known for developing the social information processing theory of mediated communication, the hyperpersonal model of online communication, and warranting theory, among others. His research has been accompanied by numerous behavioral studies. Walther has extended his work into new explanations for online hate. He was formerly the Director of the UCSB Center for Information Technology and Society and is a former Fulbright Scholar. His academic background includes a PhD in Communication from the University of Arizona, obtained in 1990. Walther's research topics include computer-mediated communication, hate speech, media psychology, relational communication, social media, and technological influences on relationships.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Social Science
• World Wide Web
• Social psychology
• Cognitive science
• Linguistics
• Epistemology
• Ecology

Selected publications

• Language, Psychology, and New New Media: The Hyperpersonal Model of Mediated Communication at Twenty-Five Years

  Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 2020 · 110 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Research on the hyperpersonal model originally described how the substitution of language for nonverbal cues, necessitated by text-based computer-mediated communication systems, transforms users’ reception, self-presentation, composition, and reciprocal reinforcement of messages in ways that create socially desirable relationships online. This article reviews the model after 25 years. It explicates the original model and mentions a sample of illustrative findings. It reflects on the state of int…

  PublisherDOI

• Communication accommodation theory: Past accomplishments, current trends, and future prospects

  Language Sciences · 2023 · 108 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Social media and online hate

  Current Opinion in Psychology · 2022 · 97 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Social Scripts and Expectancy Violations: Evaluating Communication with Human or AI Chatbot Interactants

  Media Psychology · 2022-06-10 · 59 citations

  articleSenior author

  As artificial intelligence (AI) agents like chatbots play larger roles in daily life, questions arise regarding how people evaluate their communication. Perspectives applying communication scripts to human-AI interactions propose that outcomes are determined by messages and the embedded cues therein. The expectancy violations perspective posits that message characteristics are less important than whether they are expected or unexpected. A pilot study established baseline expectancies about human…

  PublisherDOI

• User Trust in Recommendation Systems: A comparison of Content-Based, Collaborative and Demographic Filtering

  CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · 2022-04-28 · 52 citations

  articleSenior author

  Three of the most common approaches used in recommender systems are content-based filtering (matching users’ preferences with products’ characteristics), collaborative filtering (matching users with similar preferences), and demographic filtering (catering to users based on demographic characteristics). Do users’ intuitions lead them to trust one of these approaches over others, independent of the actual operations of these different systems? Does their faith in one type or another depend on the…

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• David B. Buller

  Klein Buendel (United States)

  39 shared

• Donald W. Helme

  University of Louisville

  37 shared

• Ron Borland

  Deakin University

  37 shared

• Erwin P. Bettinghaus

  Klein Buendel (United States)

  37 shared

• Julie A. Maloy

  Klein Buendel (United States)

  37 shared

• Walter F. Young

  CT Group Of Institutions

  37 shared

• Gary Cutter

  University of Alabama at Birmingham

  37 shared

• Peter E. Andersen

  Technical University of Denmark

  37 shared

Education

• PhD, Communication

  University of Arizona

  1990

Awards & honors

• Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society

Similar researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara

• Ronald E. Riceh-74
• Robin Nabih-44
• Walid Afifih-42