Info 2450 Psych Exam 1

Design

the aims of how something should work and the means of implementing that aim

Affordances

what can be done with an object, its properties that the user can take advantage of

Signifer/Cue

the visual cues that tell users how something should work

Mental Modes

one’s beliefs/expectations shaped by repeated interaction and feedback.

Designer Mental Mode VS. User Mental Mode

Differs becuase the two have different experiences with technology

Conceptual Model

simple coherent explanation of how something should work

Gulf of execution

the difference between the users intentions and the capabilities of the system, what the system actually allows users to do

Gulf of evaluation

the distance between what the system did and your ability to tell what happened

Feedback

information given to you by the system after your actions

Technological Mediation

technology sits between people —> creates uncertainty
Tech has expanded in a way where its different to tell one’s true availability

Availability

how free someone is for social interaction

Availability Management

behaviors one takes in order to manage what people think about their availability

Co-Presense

being in the same place physically around someone —> easier to read ones availability

Account

an explanation for a relational failure, one that is plausible and creates a mutually agreeable narrative that saves face for both parties

Butler Message

An excuse

A verbal message sent to manage one’s availability/unavailability

Butler Lie

A deceptive butler message is knowingly false, untrue, a lie.

Could be an excuse for the past, present, or future.

Conservational ambiguity

Unclear if a conversation is ongoing or has ended
exploits the 2 sources of ambiguity: technological mediation, and unclear norms of response and duration

Well Being

positive emotions, effective functioning, and a sense of life satisfaction, Not a medical condition

Screen time

Amount of time usually measured in mins/hrs you look at a screen in a given period of time

Engagement

the amount of time or number of interactions on a platform, typically measured by clicks, or seconds

Hypothesis

A testable prediction that is grounded in an explanation or theory that can be validated, questioned, or altered by testing the hypothesis. It has a cause-based prediction and defined, precisely measured variables.

Displacement theory/hypothesis

The healthy activities we used to do are displaced/substituted with new activities —> lost health benefits.
Our doses of screen time take the place of alternative pursuits which may be more satisfying

May contribute to poor well-being

Problems with this theory: technology is so integrated into our life, it hasn’t replaced anything entirely. Many activities have evolved to have digital elements within them.

Digital Goldilocks Hypothesis

Too little technology —> deprives young people of important social information and peer pursuits
Too much technology —> may displace other meaningful activities

—> need to find the middle of this

Qualitative vs. quantitative methods -

Qualitative: through talking to others verbally, observation

Quantitative methods: through experimentation, testing, surveying people, and observing people

Impression Formation

process of how people use information about a person to form an understanding of who they are and how they will behave

Impression Processing

How individuals attempt to influence others understanding or perception of them

The Impression problem

we can’t know someone’s true character as we only see their statements and behavior

Self presentation

the process in which one uses statements, behaviors, or other strategies to convey an impression, specifically for self benefit.

Part of impression management

Self Disclosure

Process in which someone reveals authentic personal information to another person in hopes that the partner will show them with acceptance, care, and understanding.

Ideal self

who you aspire to be

Actuals self

who you are

Ought self

how other expect you to be

Cues

Information we are given about others

Cues given: information intentionally selected by an individual

Cues given off: information unintentionally emitted through an individual’s behavior or presence

• interior residue: cues given off by self, through your behavior, state of private space

• exterior residue: cues give off by others about you, things your frds say about you

Social Impression Formation

Individuals recursively adapt their self presentation based on social cues, feedback, expectations

recursively: a spiral of feedback where each part influences one another.

Hyperpersonal Model

When interacting through mediated communication (online), people often make more extreme judgements than they would face to face because cues are filtered out

Over attribution: we tend to jump to conclusions and make quick judgements

Selective self presentation: we choose to present only the cues that support the impression we want to have

Behavioral Confirmation: once an impression is formed, even if it’s extreme, we try to maintain it

Warrant

a way of demonstrating or justifying that a claim about oneself is true

how much someone trusts the warrant is dependent on how much control they have over the information/cues you receive

Strong warrant: value is due to low user control, like a boss writing a rec letter for you

Weak warrant : easy to fake, often due to high user control, like a resume you make yourself

Mere exposure effect

people feel more favorable towards people they recognize.

Accountability

when other people are present, we feel more accountable

Coordination and Cohesion

the 2 big problems of collaboration at a distance

task coordination: does everyone know what to do and when?

group cohesion: how well do people trust each other?

Law of propinquity/proximity

we communicate more with people we are geographically closer to

Common ground

shared experience of stimuli or experience makes us more mutually understandable

Effect of Proximity on relationships

1) effect of presense: social inhibition/facilitation: when others are around, we tend to improve on our performance on well learned tasks and underperform on unlearned tasks of complex tasks

2) effect of discussion: discussion leads to cooperative behavior, increasing cohesion

face to face interaction also increases cohesion, that there’s a group

3) effect of spontaneous interaction: the CHANCE encounters of normal tasks increases trust as it is unplanned

4) effect of shared social setting: physical or virtual spaces with defined boundaries and normative expectations

impression management

the conscious or subconscious process people use to influence how others perceive them, an object, or an event

Mental threat

when the public/professional reaction to a situation is blown wildly out of proportion to the actual threat

→ panic or panic threat

cost of complexity

the most factors taken into account → the slower and harder it is to implement and enforce the design

cost of enforcement

Bans aren’t free! When enforcing a ban, need to make sure that there is evidence demonstrating a clear positive benefit to justify the restriction to freedom and the enforcement cost.

systemic review

a report that combines and synthesis previous text and evidence rather than presenting a whole new study

zero tolerance policy

no case by case flexibility. when applying the harshest available response to those who break a rule.