Douglas Yeung

Behavioral and Social Scientist; Faculty Member, Pardee RAND Graduate School

Santa Monica Office

Education

Ph.D. in psychology, Rutgers University; B.S. in management science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

One Page Bio

Overview

Douglas Yeung is a social psychologist at the RAND Corporation and a member of the Pardee RAND Graduate School faculty. His research has examined communication styles, behaviors, and mental health when using technology. His recent work has explored how policymakers can use insight from emerging technologies (e.g., social media, mobile devices) for wellbeing and civic policy-making. Yeung's other research involves online professional communities, and explores workforce attitudes, organizational knowledge-sharing, and how people discuss and seek career information. He has also conducted workforce diversity research, such as how minorities perceive career options and career development services.

Before coming to RAND, Yeung was a product analyst at Oracle, and also helped to create a mobile application that was a grand prize winner in Google's first Android Developer Challenge. He received a Ph.D. from Rutgers University - Newark, and a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Research Focus

Selected Publications

Douglas Yeung, "A Healthier Way for the Security Community to Partner with Tech Companies," Fletcher Security Review, 6(1), 2019

Douglas Yeung, "How Can Social Media Catalyze Policy Action and Social Change for Health and Wellbeing?" Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(3), 2018

Douglas Yeung, Astrid Stuth Cevallos, Attitudes Toward Local and National Government Expressed over Chinese Social Media: A Case Study of Food Safety, RAND Corporation (RR-1308), 2016

Yeung, D. & Gifford, B., "Potential Recruits Seek Information Online for Military Enlistment Decision Making: A Research Note," Armed Forces and Society, 2011

Harber, K.D., Yeung, D.C., & Iacovelli, A., "Psychosocial Resources, Threat, and the Perception of Distance and Height: Support for the Resource and Perception Model," Emotion, 2011

Yeung, D.C., & Lowrance, J.D., "Computer-Mediated Collaborative Reasoning and Intelligence Analysis," Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 3975, 2006

Sara Beth Elson, Douglas Yeung, Parisa Roshan, S. R. Bohandy, and Alireza Nader, Using Social Media to Gauge Iranian Public Opinion and Mood After the 2009 Election, RAND (TR-1161), 2012

Anita Chandra, Joie Acosta, Stefanie Stern, Lori Uscher-Pines, Malcolm V. WIlliams, Douglas Yeung, Jeffrey Garnett, Lisa S. Meredith, Building Community Resilience: A Way Forward to Enhance National Health Security, RAND (TR-915), 2011

Commentary

Bans on Facial Recognition Are Naive. Hold Law Enforcement Accountable for Its Abuse
Broader police reform may be difficult to achieve. But in the long run, it will be more effective than any specific technology ban.
Jun 17, 2020 The Hill
Incarceration Rates: A Key Measure of Health in America
There's widespread agreement that incarceration has adverse effects on health and health equity, not just for prisoners but also for families and communities. That's one important reason why incarceration in the United States needs to be reduced.
Apr 3, 2020 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health blog
The Promise and Perils of AI: Q&A with Douglas Yeung
Douglas Yeung, a social psychologist at RAND, discusses how any technology reflects the values, norms, and biases of its creators. Bias in artificial intelligence could have unintended consequences. He also warns that cyber attackers could deliberately introduce bias into AI systems.
Feb 27, 2019
Data Breaches Could Cause Users to Opt Out of Sharing Personal Data. Then What?
As tech-based systems have become all but indispensable, many institutions might assume user data will be reliable, meaningful and, most of all, plentiful. But what if this data became unreliable, meaningless, or even scarce?
Dec 28, 2018 United Press International
Intentional Bias Is Another Way Artificial Intelligence Could Hurt Us
Conversations about unconscious bias in artificial intelligence often focus on algorithms unintentionally causing disproportionate harm to entire swaths of society. But the problem could run much deeper. Society should be on guard for the possibility that nefarious actors could deliberately introduce bias into AI systems.
Oct 22, 2018 Scientific American
Using Wearable Fitness Devices to Monitor More Than Just Fitness
Manufacturers could reinvigorate the market for personal health devices by incorporating measures of health and well-being beyond step counts. Wearables could gauge a neighborhood's air quality, safety, or its level of social connectedness.
May 14, 2017 Scientific American
What 32 Million Tweets Tell Us About Health and the Twitterverse
Health-related posts and conversations on Twitter shed light on the public's views on obesity, exercise and fitness, safe sex, alcohol, and mental health. Will such discussion increase in communities where health and wellness programs are put in place?
Jan 26, 2017 The Health Care Blog
Expo Line Could Enhance Wellbeing in Santa Monica
On May 20, the long-awaited Metro Expo Line will begin service to Santa Monica. Viewing urban mobility as a key component of community wellbeing may be an instructive way to assess the impact of Expo and other infrastructure efforts.
May 6, 2016 Santa Monica Daily Press
When Public Trust in Corporations Is Shaken
The Volkswagen scandal comes at a time when the public's trust in both the automotive industry and tech companies is at risk. The level of public trust in an individual organization could end up burnishing — or infecting — an entire industry or new technology.
Oct 28, 2015 U.S. News & World Report
Loose Clicks Sink Ships: When Social Media Meets Military Intelligence
Social media updates can reveal military intelligence. But stopping a soldier from posting a geotagged tweet or Instagram photo presents challenges.
Aug 14, 2015 U.S. News & World Report
The Mountains Are High and the Emperor Is Far Away
Since September 22, tens of thousands of protesters have flooded the streets of Hong Kong, calling for universal suffrage in the 2017 chief executive election and the resignation of current Chief Executive Chun-ying Leung. When they took to Twitter to share their ideas and mobilize support, they revealed the profound disconnect that separates elements of Hong Kong society from their mainland counterparts.
Nov 11, 2014 Foreign Policy
The Insight of Twitter
Exploring how people use social media has provided useful insight into public opinion. This insight may be particularly valuable in countries where freedom of expression may be limited, for whom social media may serve as an important outlet, writes Douglas Yeung.
Oct 31, 2012 The RAND Blog

Publications

Report
Face Recognition Technologies: Designing Systems that Protect Privacy and Prevent Bias
In this report, the authors propose a heuristic with two dimensions -- consent status and comparison type -- to determine levels of privacy and accuracy in face recognition technologies. They also identify privacy and bias concerns.
May 14, 2020
Research Brief
How the U.S. Coast Guard Can Leverage Social Media and Enhanced Cell Phone Data to Improve Emergency Response
Researchers are helping the U.S. Department of Homeland Security understand how social media might be better leveraged for situational awareness—particularly location information—in U.S. Coast Guard response operations.
Mar 17, 2020
Report
Report
U.S. Coast Guard Emergency Response and Disaster Operations: Using Social Media for Situational Awareness
Researchers are helping the U.S. Department of Homeland Security understand whether and how social media might be better leveraged for situational awareness in U.S. Coast Guard response operations.
Mar 17, 2020
Report
The Role of Intellectual Property in U.S. Homeland Security
Researchers assessed intellectual property (IP) support at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its components and found underused opportunities but also issues that expose programs to substantial risk.
Sep 19, 2019
Report
Report
Understanding Demographic Differences in Undergraduate Pilot Training Attrition
This report looks at demographic differences in U.S. Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training completion and presents challenges that women and racial and ethnic minorities might face in entering and completing the training.
Jul 19, 2018
Report
Toward an Initial Conceptual Framework to Assess Community Allostatic Load: Early Themes from Literature Review and Community Analyses on the Role of Cumulative Community Stress
Understanding extant stress levels within a community can help inform how it responds to acute or traumatic events. This report presents a framework that could be used to develop a concept for determining the allostatic load on a community.
Jun 29, 2018
Journal Article
Journal Article
Social Media as a Catalyst for Policy Action and Social Change for Health and Well-Being: Viewpoint
Social media and other emerging data sources are an important complement to traditional data sources and can help track and motivate policy actions to improve health and well-being.
May 22, 2018
Report
Addressing Barriers to Female Officer Retention in the Air Force
This report documents the results of a qualitative study designed to better understand the factors that female Air Force officers consider when deciding whether to remain in the active duty Air Force.
Apr 10, 2018
Report
Recruiting Policies and Practices for Women in the Military: Views from the Field
This report helps inform strategies to recruit women through the results of focus groups with recent recruits and recruiters.
Jun 28, 2017
Report
Report
Are Current Military Education Benefits Efficient and Effective for the Services?
This research takes a mixed-methods approach to examine the effects of military education benefit programs on recruiting and retention-related outcomes, and to assess how the two largest education benefits may work together.
Jun 19, 2017
Report
Building a National Culture of Health: Background, Action Framework, Measures, and Next Steps
In 2013, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) began its Culture of Health initiative. To implement the primary Culture of Health outcome of improved population health, well-being, and equity, RWJF worked with RAND to develop an action framework.
Mar 11, 2016
Report
Searching for Information Online: Using Big Data to Identify the Concerns of Potential Army Recruits
This report assesses empirical applications of web search data and discusses the prospective value such data can offer Army recruiting efforts.
Mar 9, 2016
Report
Attitudes Toward Local and National Government Expressed over Chinese Social Media: A Case Study of Food Safety
This study of Chinese-language social media regarding food safety traces a preliminary road map to conduct such analysis, including a methodology for analyzing Chinese-language social media and a discussion of the inherent promises and limitations.
Mar 4, 2016
Report
Development of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Survey of Health Attitudes: Description and Top-Line Summary Data
This report describes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's National Survey of Health Attitudes, part of the foundation's Culture of Health strategy. It describes the survey development and provides the survey text and summary statistics of the data.
Jan 21, 2016
Report
Report
Improving Development Teams to Support Deliberate Development of Air Force Officers
This report examines the ways development teams assist Air Force officers with their professional development and assesses the future of these teams.
Nov 24, 2015
Report
Report
Options for Department of Defense Total Workforce Supply and Demand Analysis: Potential Approaches and Available Data Sources
This report reviews approaches used in the private sector and government organizations to determine workforce supply and demand and describes data sources available to Department of Defense managers to support analysis from a total force perspective.
Dec 3, 2014
Report
Report
The 2014 Technology Summit for Victim Service Providers: Identifying Challenges and Possible Solutions
Summarizes discussions and observations made at a national summit on leveraging technology to enable victims of crime to more quickly and effectively obtain the help they need.
Sep 17, 2014
Report
Information and Communication Technologies to Promote Social and Psychological Well-Being in the Air Force: A 2012 Survey of Airmen
This report presents the findings from an exploratory survey of 3,479 active-duty, guard, and reserve Airmen on their use of information and communication technology (ICT) and the association between ICT use and social and psychological well-being.
Aug 25, 2014
Infographic
Infographic
Building Blocks for a Resilient City
This infographic illustrates how communities can withstand and recover from disasters by building resiliency.
Aug 18, 2014
Infographic
Road to Resilience: Building Stronger, More Sustainable Communities
This infographic illustrates how communities can become more resilient as they plan ahead for potential disasters.
May 23, 2014
Report
Report
Developing Army Leaders: Lessons for Teaching Critical Thinking in Distributed, Resident, and Mixed-Delivery Venues
Evaluated the effectiveness of the Common Core -- the first phase of the U.S. Army's system for developing critical thinking skills in its officer corps -- and the extent of differences among distributed, resident, and mixed-delivery course venues.
Mar 3, 2014
Report
Spiritual Fitness and Resilience: A Review of Relevant Constructs, Measures, and Links to Well-Being
This report examines the relationship between spiritual fitness and resilience, using key constructs found in the scientific literature: a spiritual worldview, personal spiritual practices, support from a spiritual community, and spiritual coping.
Oct 3, 2013
Research Brief
Research Brief
Using Behavioral Indicators to Detect Potential Violent Acts
Provides an overview of research on how observable behavioral indicators might be used to detect potential violent attacks, such as by suicide terrorists or those laying improvised explosive devices.
Aug 23, 2013
Report
Report
Using Behavioral Indicators to Help Detect Potential Violent Acts: A Review of the Science Base
Reviews the scientific literature relating to observable behavioral indicators that might, along with other information, help detect potential violent attacks, such as those by suicide terrorists or the laying of improvised explosive devices.
Jun 11, 2013
Report
Report
Facilitating Information Sharing Across the International Space Community: Lessons from Behavioral Science
Based on a review of relevant research literature, this report examines ways to encourage the space community to share information that will help its members navigate increasing numbers of satellites and space debris.
May 2, 2013
Research Brief
Research Brief
Can Social Media Help Analyze Public Opinion? A Case Study of Iranian Public Opinion After the 2009 Election
Describes a methodology for analyzing public opinion and mood in closed societies, focusing on a case study that analyzed Iranian public opinion and mood as expressed over Twitter in the nine months following Iran's 2009 presidential election.
Oct 4, 2012
Report
Report
Using Social Media to Gauge Iranian Public Opinion and Mood After the 2009 Election
Analyzes Iranian public opinion and mood as expressed over Twitter in the nine months following the 2009 election.
Jan 17, 2012
Report
Report
New Tools and Metrics for Evaluating Army Distributed Learning
Develops and tests new tools and metrics to assess training and to document the impact of Army distributed learning courses at the program level.
May 9, 2011
Research Brief
Research Brief
Building Community Resilience to Disasters: A Roadmap to Guide Local Planning
Examines ways in which communities can improve their ability to withstand and recover from adversity.
Feb 22, 2011
Report
Building Community Resilience to Disasters: A Way Forward to Enhance National Health Security
Provides a roadmap for federal, state, and local leaders who are developing plans to enhance community resilience for health security threats and describes options for building community resilience in key areas.
Feb 22, 2011
Journal Article
Journal Article
Psychosocial Resources, Threat, and the Perception of Distance and Height: Support for the Resources and Perception Model
Psychosocial resources (such as optimism, coping style, sense of mastery or personal control) can moderate perception of threats, and different resources have similar effects.
2011
Report
Report
Japanese Science and Technology Capacity: Expert Opinions and Recommendations
This report summarizes the views of 55 leading researchers in the United States, the European Union, Switzerland, and Russia regarding the competitiveness of Japanese research in 25 fields.
Mar 15, 2010
Draft
Draft
Understanding Community Resilience in the Context of National Health Security: A Literature Review
This review lays a foundation for upcoming analyses that will provide a working definition of community resilience, identify activities for building resilience, and offer associated metrics.
Jan 11, 2010
Draft
Draft
Potential Recruits Seek Information Online for Military Enlistment Decision-Making
Explores the influence of online communication on enlistment decision-making for potential recruits.
Aug 20, 2009

Multimedia

3:21
Santa Monica's Wellbeing Project
Sep 29, 2017