Ten papers in five areas.
Working papers on how people reason, persuade, and pay attention. Each one makes an argument; the data to test it comes next.
100+
apprentices
15,000+
hours
10
active papers
The papers.
Each one makes an argument; none reports results yet. Open a paper for its abstract, or read its full page.
Reasoning
1 paperK.B., NYU
Is social media teaching us to think in shortcuts?
Started by K.B., NYU
What it argues
Platforms that reward attention, speed, and comparison encourage shortcut cognition: quick belief and weaker reasoning, visible in attention span, comprehension, and how well belief matches evidence.
Partial abstract
How speed, metrics, and social comparison on social media shape the way people form beliefs. The paper proposes a measurable mode of thought, shortcut cognition, marked by reactive belief and weaker analysis.
Is Social Media Making Us Dumber? Cognitive Shortcuts in Digital Discourse · Active
How it connects to Pulp
Pulp’s work on reasoning and data literacy.
Active
Persuasion
3 papersJ.Q., Boston University
Why do parasocial fandoms fall apart?
Started by J.Q., Boston University
What it argues
Fandoms fracture after a high-attention crisis when a creator’s rhetoric turns inconsistent and platforms amplify the contradiction.
Partial abstract
Parasocial fandoms are a defining feature of the online attention economy, yet many eventually break apart. The paper proposes a four-phase lifecycle in which emotionally immersive rhetoric, peak platform engagement, and high-attention crises create the conditions for a breakdown in persuasive flow.
Persuasion, Crisis, and Fragmentation: A Framework for Understanding Parasocial Fandom Disillusionment · Active
How it connects to Pulp
TrueAura models personas and persuasive resonance over time.
Continues as a special project: Parasocial online communities
ActiveM.O., MIT
Can a model recommend the right persuasive move, and explain why?
Started by M.O., MIT
What it argues
Recommending persuasive strategies works better, and is easier to trust, when a model knows both speaker and audience and cites evidence from the conversation itself.
Partial abstract
PRISM recommends the persuasive primitives, such as emotional appeal or logical coherence, most likely to work in the next turn of a dialogue, then scores the turn once it is said. Its labels come from an oracle model that explains each primitive with evidence from the conversation and the speaker’s and audience’s personas.
PRISM: Personalized Recommendation of In-Context Strategies with Grounded Explanations for Effective Dialogue · Active
How it connects to Pulp
TrueAura scores persuasive resonance against an objective.
ActiveA.V., CUNY Graduate Center
How does crime news shape what people fear, and what they support?
Started by A.V., CUNY Graduate Center
What it argues
Fear-framed crime stories raise how common people think crime is and their support for punishment, while stories about flaws in the system raise support for reform; the effect depends on the platform and the audience.
Partial abstract
How news and social media frame crime, from fear appeals to the stigma around mental illness and race. The paper proposes that fear frames push audiences toward punitive policy, and that sympathetic or system-focused frames open room for rehabilitation and restorative reform.
Media Messaging and Public Perception of Crime: Misrepresentations and Pathways to Reform · Active
How it connects to Pulp
Radiance measures references and persuasive force.
Continues as a special project: Criminal representations in media
Active
Attention
2 papersJ.L., Princeton
Who controls attention once it becomes a currency?
Started by J.L., Princeton
What it argues
Attention becomes a scarce, tradable currency that firms and campaigns price, package, and redirect through algorithmic amplification and audience segmentation, wearing down individual autonomy.
Partial abstract
As content grows, the signal strength needed to be noticed rises faster than people’s capacity to process it. The paper models attention as a nonmonetary good that turns into profit once a message crosses a perceptual gate, and extends the model to political campaigns.
Attention Economy in Advertisement and Political Campaigns · Active
How it connects to Pulp
Pulp’s attention research: what noise costs people, and who pays.
Continues as a special project: Attention economics
ActiveM.D., NYU
How does the attention economy keep corrupt politicians in power?
Started by M.D., NYU
What it argues
Media saturation, money, and incumbency let corrupt leaders turn control of attention into lasting, hidden influence.
Partial abstract
How saturation coverage, dark money, and microtargeting crowd out scrutiny as investigative journalism declines. The paper argues that scandal fatigue and algorithmic amplification let incumbents turn attention into durable influence.
How the Attention Economy Lets Corrupt Politicians Keep Power and Evade Scrutiny · Active
How it connects to Pulp
Pulp’s digital civics work.
Active
Interaction
2 papersA.A., Dartmouth
Where in an app or a checkout do people decide to stay or leave?
Started by A.A., Dartmouth
What it argues
Every session reads as a four-phase story, and the alignment phase, when people decide, is where clarity, lower risk, and signs of fit matter most, because a person who leaves there rarely comes back.
Partial abstract
Sessions in e-commerce, onboarding, and conversational agents are modeled as a four-phase narrative arc. The paper proposes that the alignment phase, where a person weighs fit and risk, matters most, since drop-off there is the least reversible.
The Four-Phase User Experience Narrative and the Decisive Role of Alignment in HCI Sessions · Active
How it connects to Pulp
Loosethreads cues meet people at the moment they decide.
ActiveR.H., Stony Brook University
Does Nvidia speak differently to engineers than to everyone else?
Started by R.H., Stony Brook University
What it argues
Nvidia tunes complexity by audience: technical detail and a formal tone for engineers, plain words, visuals, and metaphor for everyone else, with different effects on trust and engagement.
Partial abstract
A comparison of Nvidia’s engineer-facing and general-audience communication across channels. The paper argues the company moves between central-route credibility for engineers and accessibility for everyone else, and that each earns trust differently.
Audience Voice and Directed Levels of Complexity: How Nvidia Speaks to Engineers vs. Non-Engineers · Active
How it connects to Pulp
Pulp’s interaction research: one message at different levels of complexity.
Active
Engagement
2 papersP.O., Duke
What happens when public health messages carry no feeling?
Started by P.O., Duke
What it argues
When platforms reward emotional content and public health messaging stays flat, people follow health guidance less in an emergency.
Partial abstract
Audiences engage with and remember content that speaks to what they care about, and the emotional gap between government and public weakens health messaging. The paper argues that emotionally neutral messaging lost ground to sensational misinformation during COVID-19, and proposes that closing that gap would raise adherence in future emergencies.
Addressing the Emotional Deficit in Public Health Messaging: Implications for Emergency Preparedness and Public Response · Active
How it connects to Pulp
Pulp’s research on emotion in public messaging.
Continues as a special project: Emotion in COVID press releases
ActiveJ.F., Mercy University
How does a global company keep one voice across many cultures?
Started by J.F., Mercy University
What it argues
Cultural sensitivity, consistent messaging, and localization, used together inside and outside a multinational, build brand cohesion and the trust of employees, partners, and customers.
Partial abstract
A case study of Unilever’s internal and external communication across markets, from localization to employer brand to crisis response. The paper argues that cultural sensitivity, consistent messaging, and localization work best together.
Effective International Communication Strategies: A Case Study of Unilever · Active
How it connects to Pulp
Thinkwell is built for teams that speak to many publics at once.
Active
Special projects.
Five open questions that came out of the papers. Each one needs more people.
Educators, researchers, mentors, and advisors, from academia or industry. Every project links Pulp, The Pulp Foundation, and the student who started it.
Attention economics
Started by J.L., Princeton
What is attention worth, and who collects it?
Started by J.L., Princeton
Abstract
The abstract comes once the paper is final.
Where it started
Attention Economy in Advertisement and Political Campaigns
ActiveJoin this projectDendritic machine learning
Started by M.O., MIT
Can machine learning branch the way neurons do?
Started by M.O., MIT
Abstract
The abstract comes once the paper is final.
ActiveJoin this projectParasocial online communities
Started by J.Q., Boston University
What do one-sided bonds with creators do at community scale?
Started by J.Q., Boston University
Abstract
The abstract comes once the paper is final.
Where it started
Persuasion, Crisis, and Fragmentation: A Framework for Understanding Parasocial Fandom Disillusionment
ActiveJoin this projectCriminal representations in media
Started by A.V., CUNY Graduate Center
How does the news picture crime, and who ends up in the picture?
Started by A.V., CUNY Graduate Center
Abstract
The abstract comes once the paper is final.
Where it started
Media Messaging and Public Perception of Crime: Misrepresentations and Pathways to Reform
ActiveJoin this projectEmotion in COVID press releases
Started by P.O., Duke
How much feeling went into government press releases, and what did it do?
Started by P.O., Duke
Abstract
The abstract comes once the paper is final.
Where it started
Addressing the Emotional Deficit in Public Health Messaging: Implications for Emergency Preparedness and Public Response
ActiveJoin this project
How it works.
Question
You pick something you actually want to figure out, in any field.
Mentor
Someone from academia or industry works through it with you.
Paper
You write it up, and then you defend the argument in review.
Published
It goes up on Pulp101 and on this page, under your initials.
Earlier projects.
Over three years, more than 100 apprentices from schools across the country have put over 15,000 hours into Pulp.
M.K. Stony Brook University
Math and political science · Bridged content and engagement systems.
N.N. Baruch College
Finance and accounting · Structured numerical data to predict and forecast.
P.P. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Endpoint management · Connected data systems to one another.
Open to any school
Students in any field and any year can apply. Apply through The Pulp Foundation
Doing work like this?
Students from any school or field, and mentors from academia or industry: get in touch.