Catching fire: What goes viral and why? With Jonah Berger, PhD

Why do some ideas, products, news stories and trends spread like wildfire, while others disappear? Jonah Berger, PhD, discusses the science of what catches on; the psychological forces that drive word of mouth, including social currency and high-arousal emotions like awe and anger; whether online and offline sharing differ; and what his research can tell us about the spread of misinformation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can listen to Catching fire: What goes viral and why? With Jonah Berger, PhD online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Catching fire: What goes viral and why? With Jonah Berger, PhD is an episode from Speaking of Psychology by Kim Mills.

This episode is 41:33 long.

This episode was published on Feb 25, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Speaking of Psychology when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.