sparrow profile | Center fo Narrative Practice

Betsy Sparrow, Ph.D

Since the publication of her article The Google Effect: Consequences of Having Information at our Fingertips (Science, 2011), Betsy has been asking questions about what we are likely to remember when we look up information online. When are we most critical in our evaluation of what we learn online? Under what type of learning situations are we most likely to make creative leaps? Her work has gained her a reputation in academia as one of the important voices in research on the intersection of human cognition and technology She has written a review of the subject for two prestigious journals, and has gained considerable media attention (PBS, MSNBC, BBC, ABC News, the Colbert Report, plus all major international newsprint publications). Her work has drawn the interest of many corporations (Masie’s Learning, Shell, Humera) where she has given keynote addresses and led breakout sessions with people involved with corporate learning and internet technology creation. Betsy received her Ph.D in social psychology from Harvard University.

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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Sparrow, B., Chatman, L.* (2013). We’re not burning down the house: Synthesizing pre-Internet, current findings, and future research on social cognition and being online. Psychological Inquiry, 24, 211-218. [reply to commentaries.]

Sparrow, B., Chatman, L.* (2013). Social cognition in the age of the internet: Same as it ever was? Psychological Inquiry, 24, 1-19.

Sparrow, B., Liu, J., Wegner, D.M. (2011): The Google effect on memory: Cognitive consequences of information at our fingertips. Science, 333: 776-778.

Sparrow, B., & Wegner, D.M. (2006). Unpriming: The deactivation of thoughts through expression. Â Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 91: 1009-1019.

Wegner D., Sparrow, B., & Winerman, L. (2004). Vicarious agency: Experiencing Control over the movements of others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 86: 838-848.

Wegner, D., Fuller, V., & Sparrow, B. (2003). Clever hands: Uncontrollable intelligence in facilitated communication. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85: 5-19.

MEDIA