sinéad's lifestream

Psychology is all about understanding, explaining, and predicting human behavior. We are fascinated by our own behaviour and those of us around us. By understanding behaviour we hope to gain insights into how our minds work and perhaps how to change our undesirable behaviour. An understanding of human behaviour can also lead to the design of good software, hardware and even guide policy writing relating to technology.

These days technology like the iPhone helps us to track our own personal habits, Twitter gives us an insight into popular topics and analytics give us fascinating web usage statistics. Whilst technology has greatly enhanced our ability to collect interesting data about human behaviour, it’s important to realise that using such data to make conclusions about why we behave in such a way is unwise without investigating the differences between causality and correlation. Take for example the problematic question of whether the Internet is addictive or if addicts use the Internet.

The Relationship Between Psychology and Technology

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Sleep seems to be a reoccurring topic here (see my previous post on good sleeping habits), which isn’t surprising seeing as it’s such an interesting subject, even more so when it’s related to technology. Tommy Collison wrote a great post this week about an iPhone app called Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock that helps you wake up more naturally and since trying it out I’ve been acutely aware of the scepticism online surrounding its validity and usefulness.

Sleep Cycle is an app that turns you iPhone into a bio-alarm clock. Using the accelerometer built into the iPhone it reads specific movements common during sleep and wakes you up when you are sleeping lightly, aiming to give you a more refreshing awakening. Haven’t we all felt the frustration of being woken up during an especially interesting dream, and then felt dreadful for the day because of it?

This type of movement based bio-alarm clock has been around for awhile. You often find them as glorified watches with internal accelerometers, or overcomplicated devices that require placing motion detecting electrodes under your pillow case. The reason bio-alarm clocks work is due to the extensive sleep research that tells us how our body moves or doesn’t move during sleep.

How Does It Work?

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I’m surprised the phrase “Couldn’t sleep last night.” has yet to trend on Twitter, it’s certainly a common tweet I see in the mornings during my commute to work. Not only that, flicking back through the wee hours of my stream it’s also pretty common to see “Still can’t get to sleep.” appearing at 3am.

I would argue that if you’re tweeting, you’re certainly not trying to sleep or doing what’s good for your body in preparation for shutting down for a few hours. I myself have suffered some restless nights and made a real effort to combat the problem, rather than accepting it and suffering through more zombie like days in the office.

Turn Off Your Computer 30 Minutes Before Sleep

If you’re suffering from occasional difficulty getting to sleep at night you should consider the effects of using a computer late at night. Studies have shown that the brain remains stimulated after using a computer (or watching television), which in turn makes your sleep restless. The simple act of shutting down the computer 30 minutes before you’re planning on going to sleep can help relax you.

Research has also shown that the bright light of your computer monitor (let’s also not forget that mobile phone screens also produce a bright light) suppresses the production of our sleep hormone melatonin. If you are suffering from an especially bad case of insomnia then try shutting down the computer at least two hours before planning on going to bed.

Though you may enjoy the calming effects of using the computer, your brain on the other hand is thinking “light = daytime”. Staring at your computer screen means keeping yourself alert and wide-awake and returning online to complain about your inability to sleep is simply aggravating the problem.

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Another request from a final year MSc Cyberpsychology student, it would be great if you could fill out his survey for his post graduate thesis and also forward this on to any Irish person between the ages of 18 and 40.

I’m Mark Siggins – final year Cyberpsychology student in IADT and I’m looking for some volunteers for my MSc. Project. Its a study of Irish mobile phone usage and what happens when people are separated from their mobile phones. I’ve set up an online survey to get suitable participants (You must own a mobile phone, be aged 18-40 and live in Ireland).

A link to the questionnaire can be found here.

The online part takes about ten minutes and of course all replies will be confidential. The second part of the study will involve analysing your phone use for a 12 hour period – it’s explained in more detail in the questionnaire, but if anyone has any questions or concerns them please contact me at this address – siggins.mark@gmail.com

Thank you for your assistance.

Mark is looking for people to fill out his questionnaire and also for anyone willing to participate in an experiment – to go 12 hours without their mobile phone. If you’re up for the challenge I think this would be an eye opening experience. Of course, you can still fill out the survey without taking part in the experiment, as frightening as the thought might be.

I’m very much looking forward to the results of this research and hope to be able to publish a summary here when Mark has submitted his thesis to the college.

When I graduated from my degree I thought I’d change the world.

I was ready to be a part of the next big technological breakthrough and I would be on hand to make sure it was as user friendly as possible and universal in its design and truly beneficial in its functionality. The prototypes I had project managed and been a part of during my undergrad course in Psychology Applied to I.T had all been focused on being helpful in their own little way – gadgets, websites or instructional programs that certainly weren’t playthings. With my knowledge of psychology I was prepared to take on the technology world and make it less frustrating and remove the exclusivity barrier around it. I was excited to finally be a part of an iterative design process that would actually reach the end – a product! a website! an application! anything! I wanted to be a part of something good and wholesome. I wanted to be able to stand up and say “I worked on that!” when someone was showing off their amazing new smartphone or trying out a new feature on a social networking site. I wanted to be a part of ubiquitous computing and augmented reality, to be a part of a user experience research team into the latest and greatest of what was yet to come.

I was young and naive.

In the last three years I’ve worked a steady full-time job in the civil service (that I’d give up in a heartbeat for a chance to work or intern in any usability related field) and been awarded a first in my masters in Cyberpsychology. Yet I still feel like I’m just getting older and going nowhere fast.

So for 2010 I’ve set myself a serious ultimatum.
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A quick request from a final year MSc Cyberpsychology student, it would be great if you could fill out his quick survey for his post graduate thesis and also forward this on to any Irish Facebook users over the age of 24.

My name is Graham and I am doing a thesis on Facebook usage. The following is a link to a secure survey that I have made, asking basic Facebook usage questions and also incorporating a short personality questionnaire.

Open The Survey In A New Window

The whole survey will take no more than five minutes to do and is completely confidential; I can assure you that it is also anonymous. You need only type your initials. I would really appreciate it if you could find the time to do it, as I am struggling to get the required numbers. The only stipulation is that you are Irish, over 24, and have a facebbok profile. Thanking you in advance.

Graham Gilbert
Final Year MSc Cyberpsychology student at IADT

I’m rather interested in the results of this study and hopefully will be able to share the results of Graham’s study with you next year.

The lovely Clarabel on Twitter posted this photo last week. This is a fine little collection of psychology text books (and a Philosophy one thrown in for good measure) that would be perfect for any undergraduate psychology student. As a psychology graduate myself I understand how expensive psychology text books are, so please, if you know anyone that could do with a helping hand with their first or second year of college ask them to get in contact with us. Leave a comment here, send me an email (sineadcochrane at gmail dot com), a tweet, or, contact Clara via an @ reply on twitter. These books are free to a good home and are in perfect condition. Even if any of these books have new editions now available, more often than not there are only slight changes made and they would be perfect to help you with your long road of study ahead.

*Update* Two hours after posting this the books found a home. Yey books!

Online consumerism has become a prevalent part of modern life. With greater choice of availability and 24 hour access to a global market, many are now switching to shopping on the the Internet rather than walking around high streets or shopping centers for their desired purchases. Recent studies indicate that 96% of Irish Internet users have made an online purchase. But what are the perceived risks that online consumers feel?

Hello my name is Lee Kelly and I’m currently studying for a Msc Cyberpsychology. As part of the course I am conducting a research project regarding attitudes towards online shopping. More specifically this study aims to examine levels of trust placed, when using online commercial sites. The study will also try to ascertain if levels of trust online differ between Digital Natives (people who grew up surrounded by information technology) and Digital Immigrants (people who learn to use information technology in adulthood). I’m looking for participants that would fall under both groups; so if you are over 18 and enjoy shopping online then I need to recruit you (sorry I’ve been watching Milk) to take part in my Online survey.

Once again participants will be given the opportunity to win €50 Amazon voucher on completion of the survey. Thank You in advance to everyone who agrees to take part in this study and also many thank to Sinéad Cochrane for her help in allowing me to guest post.

World of Warcraft currently has 11.5 million monthly subscribers, there are 15 million registered-accounts on Second Life, and 38,000 active members in-world at any one time. These numbers show that millions of people are interacting, collaborating, and forming strong relationships online every day - with fascinating outcomes.

My name is Eily Coghlan, and I’m currently studying Msc Cyberpsychology along with Sinéad. My research is specifically interested in investigating gender bending online. This is when an individual chooses to play an avatar who has a different gender online then they have in real life. It’s a common occurrence in online gaming, and a simple Google search returns hundreds of thousands of results. I’m trying to discover what inspires people to gender bend and what reasons they have for doing so. As part of my reseach I have created an online survey which I need people who gender-bend in these games AND people who don’t gender-bend to fill out.

Like Sinéad has already done, you also have the chance to win a €50 Amazon voucher at the end of the survey! You can now double your chances! I appreciate anyone who responds, I am extremely grateful! If you don’t happen to play either of these games, please pass it on to anyone that you know who does. It’s quite quick, only takes 10 minutes to complete!

Thanks to Sinéad for letting me sneak in on her blog!

Irish Blog Research 2009, Survey Goes Live

As part of the M.Sc Cyberpsychology at IADT each postgraduate student is currently in the process of conducting a major research project. My own is focused on blogging, but from an Irish perspective, looking at the attitudes and behaviour of Irish bloggers and Irish blog readers. (Related Article)

Online Survey

At the very heart of this research study is an online survey which you can find here. I’m hoping to recruit a large sample of both bloggers and non-blogging readers. If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you fit into one of these categories and would very much appreciate it if you could spare 10-15 minutes to fill out the survey. Most of the questions are multiple choice, a small number are essay based but you can write as much, or as little as you like. This questionnaire is 100% anonymous, confidential and for research purposes only.  Even your IP address won’t be stored.

Prize Draws!

At the end of the survey you will have the opportunity to enter a prize draw for either a €50 Amazon voucher or a €50 Ticketmaster voucher – if you win, you can choose either prize.

I’m also going to run a separate prize draw for another €50 voucher for anyone that posts a link to this survey on their blog, or on a messageboard – anywhere really! To enter this separate draw just leave a comment on this blog post, this can be in the form of a trackback or a comment telling me where you have posted the link.

Thank You!

Thank you in advance for your help, without the Irish blogging community on my side this research won’t be complete. The hard part will be finding non-blogging readers to complete the survey, so if you know anyone that would fit that category please pass the link for the survey onto them.

As a way of giving something back to the blogging community I will be publishing summaries of the most interesting findings here on this blog. If you would like to be notified when the entire research document is available for download  – this will be a masters thesis of approximately 15,000 words, with an introduction to the psychogical aspects of blogging – you can enter your details on this form.