Prototype of a Person

Cyberpsychology Digest Volume 1

I’m constantly coming across academic journal articles, news stories and blog articles that are directly related to Cyberpsychology that are incredibly interesting, controversial, questionable and are often a source of inner debate. Therefore, I’ve decided to start sharing them here in the hopes of highlighting the importance of applying psychological research and theory to various technology related fields. I’m planning on making this a monthly post and if anyone has anything they’d like to contribute, or even related articles, feel free to drop me a comment or an e-mail.

Cyberpsychology Digest Volume 1

Can Grand Theft Auto improve social skills?: Some media attention was given to this story and at first I was quite skeptical, that was of course until I read the original article on the University of Sunderland website. Chris Whitehead, the final year Psychology student, points out how previous research has focused on the adverse effects of violent video games on children, when such games are actually targeted towards adults and can have positive effects upon their intended audience. Related article: Link between online gaming and violence killed off

Early Sexual Experiences: The Role of Internet Access and Sexually Explicit Material: This study reports that participants who had access to the Internet during the ages of 12 and 17 reported engaging in sexual intercourse at a younger age than those that did not have Internet access.

Mobile Phones are more important than Wallets and Keys: Nortel have conducted some extensive survey based research into global uses of communications technologies. The most interesting information derived from this is how survey respondents indicated that the one item they would choose to bring with them when leaving the house for 24 hours or more would be their mobile phone, choosing their mobile phone over their wallet or keys.

Exploring the Role of the Reader in the Activity of Blogging: Most research on the topic of blogging has focused on sociability (i.e. the blogosphere). This study investigated the behaviour of blog readers, discovering that blog reading often becomes similar to e-mail checking – i.e. less content orientated and habitual. Also of note is the conclusion that readers put pressure on themselves to produce worthwhile comments. An interesting study, however, a small criticism - the majority of participants were also blog writers, would be far more interesting to see this study applied to non bloggers. Related article: Are You Educating Your Readers About Blogging?

Being Human: Human Computer Interaction in the Year 2020: Findings from a HCI conference hosted by Microsoft which gives recommendations for the future of HCI to ensure that human values inform future development. For example, educating young people on the impact of technological advances and recognising the importance of specialists from other disciplines (e.g. psychology, sociology, arts) whom can offer more insightful perspectives. The report also argues for the need of proper monitoring and assessment to ensure that we individually and collectively stay in control of ourselves and the world around us. Related article: In a User Centric Web I get to control my data

If anyone has anything they’d like to contribute to the next digest, or related articles for this volume, feel free to drop me a comment or an e-mail - Sinéad.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3

The Effects of Music on Personal Space Preferences

The Psychology Society of Ireland doesn’t appear to update their website very much (also, another fine example of antiquated web design!) therefore I cannot access information on all of the awards from the Psychology Congress. But, I did want to mention the work by Colin Gallagher, a final year student from IADT (Psychology Applied to I.T) who received a well deserved commendation for his research presentation. Not only is his research fascinating and his presentation enjoyable, he was more than capable of handling the multitude of questions the adjudicators and audience threw at him. An award well deserved. Below is his abstract, taken from “The Irish Psychologist” Vol. 34, no.9 - I’ve also added some relevant web-links.

The Effects of Music on Personal Space Preferences: Comparing Introverts and Extraverts

The current study examined the distracting effects of music on introverts and extraverts with regard to their personal space preferences in public spaces. There has been no prior investigation into the possible link between personal space and music. The now pervasive behaviour of listening to music in public is possibly a reaction to the modern hi-density urban situations that people live in nowadays and music could be a way of easing people’s feelings of crowding. Participants in this study performed a simple personal space measure with music and without, and then completed a personality test (NEO PI-R). The research result found there was a significant reduction in personal space boundaries of the particpants when listening to music. This supports Worchel and Teddlie’s theory that distractions reduce personal space. The introvert sample were found to be most affected indicating that introverts find music more distracting, as was found by Furnham and Bradley.

I’m certain that anyone that uses public transport, especially the Luas or Dart, will agree with these results. I for one, feel a lot more uncomfortable without my earphones in. Though, if I myself had been conducting this study, I would have included a third condition - earplugs. I would be curious about the results of this, and whether any significant reduction in personal space boundaries would be at all comparable to the “with music” condition.

Psychology Congress Highlight: Flow States

I returned late last night from the Psychology Student Congress held in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick and I must say - I really enjoyed myself. I found Limerick to be a vibrant, clean and enjoyable city. I tried to see as many IT related presentations as I could and the highlight for me was from Michael Malone, an undergraduate Psychology Applied to IT student from IADT. Below is his abstract, taken from “The Irish Psychologist” Vol. 34, no.9 - I’ve also added some relevant web-links.

The Physiological Correlates of “Flow” States Within an IT Environment

Since the initial conception of the “Flow” construct a vast amount of psychological research has focused on identifying its key subjective components and investigating its supposed association with elevating human performance capacity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). However, the most distinguishable characteristic of this research is its complete dependency on qualitative research methods. There has been no research conducted thus far investigating the molecular concomitants of flow states. For this study 8 participants (6 males, 2 females) were requested to play a videogame (Flow TM) which was specifically designed to induce flow states (Chen, 2006). Heart rate and electro-dermal activity (EDA) were recorded during game play. An adapted FSS-2 (Flow State Scale Revised) questionnaire was then administered to measure flow levels experienced during gameplay. It is anticipated that the molecular activity associated with increased Flow levels will resemble that of deep meditation (i.e, decreases in both heart rate and skin conductance) due to their similarly described subjective state (Marr, 2001). Analysis of results is pending. Results will be discussed with reference to the methodological challenges facing future flow research and possible benefits derived from such research.

Consider the feelings you get when you’re “in the zone” and completely immersed in your computer, even forgetting to eat and being completely unaware of the passage of time (I can certainly relate!). The above piece of research hypothesized that this was similar to a meditative state. The actual results of the study did not support this hypothesis (though decreased heart rates were found) but I believe that this was due to the small scale of the study - due to time constraints, as it was only a undergraduate piece of research. If participants had been tested more than once, I believe that it would have led to a more relaxed state as they would have had no anxiety related to the equipment being used to monitor their physiological responses, and of course, would have had some experience playing the game.

I sincerely hope that someone in either IADT or another college can fund this as a long term postgraduate research study.

Coincidentally the British Psychological Society held their annual conference in Dublin this week and Jazz Biscuit has pointed out all the “tabloid fodder” studies that were discussed.

30th Annual Congress of Psychology Students

In two weeks time I’m off to Limerick to attend the Congress of Psychology Students - this is an annual event where undergraduate and postgraduate psychology students (and sometimes their supervisors) present the research that they have conducted, usually in the last year or two. At this event two years ago I presented my own research, and plan on doing so once again at next year’s congress.

The congress is a wonderful opportunity to gather information about the current direction of Irish psychological research and based on the information from the timetable for presentations it appears that the majority of the research to be presented is coming from the traditional mainstream topics of scientific psychology. From almost 200 presentations taking place only about 10 of these are related to I.T in some way, which personally is a big disappointment, especially considering the ubiquity of communications technologies in Ireland and the number of I.T companies based here.

Applying psychological studies to technology has always been a niche in this country, which is surprising because it has so many positive and negative impacts upon Irish working life, home life, education etc. It is something that I feel passionately about, especially the importance of applying scientific methods to research in I.T - rather than the current climate of unreliable surveys and the media shaping public knowledge and ideas about how we use and interact with one another through technology.

I did however note an increase in the areas of research related to gay men and lesbians (though it is still a tiny percentage of the 200 presentations). There are of course many other areas of research that I have an interest in and below is a list of the selected presentations which I will aiming to attend.

More »

Opportunities on the Horizon

I just completed an online assessment for Google, the purpose of which was to assess my analytical skills, my Internet and product knowledge as well as my use of language. I applied for the AdSense Coordinator (English) position about a month ago. If my test results are sufficient I am assuming that they will contact me to organise an interview. Fingers crossed! The tests took an hour, and to be honest, it was rather difficult despite 75% of it being multiple choice.

Even if I don’t get an interview, I’m thankful for the opportunity to do the assessment – it’s not like any other test I’ve done before, and I don’t think I was very well prepared for the final section. It was free-form, assessing my ability to express myself in written form. I was asked a question on a topic and asked to write a response (a mini essay). I had 15 minutes to complete this section, and it was the only part where I felt really under pressure.

At least it’s better than an automated response.

So Google is closer on the horizon, but coincidentally so is a post-graduate course. IADT have two new Postgraduate Research Opportunities open for application, both projects involve teenagers and their Internet usage. The two project titles are:

Young People Online: The Alchemy of the Virtual and the Real in the Performance of Identity on Interactive Sites

Cyber Bullying: A New Dimension to an Old Problem

Both are extremely interesting topics, so I’m thinking very hard right now about whether to apply, or to keep to my original plan: to work for awhile, and then go back to college and do a taught masters.

Life is Shaping up Nicely

Yesterday, I turned 22. And I felt as though I’d come to a dramatic junction in my life, where things could either go downhill very quickly, or slowly continue upwards.

Within the last year, a major change occured in my life. I met the woman of my dreams, which encouraged me to finally wake-up and realise that I really wanted to progress academically, in order to fullfill my desire to be successful professionally, to move out, settle down and eventually start a family of my own.

Love is a powerful thing.

Over the last year, I worked harder than I have ever before. When I look back upon my Leaving Certificate, I realise how foolish I was. In the end I was very lucky to gain a place in a college course that has given me the opportunity to combine my two favourite subjects: humanity and technology. In 1st year I was enthusiastic and did very well in my exams, but circumstances led me to neglect my stuides, and take my place in college for granted. During 2nd and 3rd year I did not push myself hard enough, which in the end has made my final year a difficult one. I had to work harder this year, to make sure my overall degree mark was sufficient enough to allow me to one day continue my studies and eventually get my Ph.D.

Today, I recieved my college exam results. I was so shocked by them that I had to call my course co-ordinator to confirm the words sitting in Firefox. I got a GPA of 3.19 for my final year, and added with my 3rd year marks, I have been awarded a Second Class Honours Grade 1 (2.1). I am now the proud owner of a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Psychology Applied To Information Technology.

A 2.1 was important for me to achieve, as it gives me the ability to persue a masters degree course in almost any area of Psychology that I desire. Currently, I have my eye on a sweet little number that is actually more Computer Science based: A Master of Science in Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing at Trinity.

Now all I have to do is save or borrow €4000. I’m planning on using this year to save, so far it’s not exactly going to plan, but once I get myself a new job I should be well on my way to getting myself into a nice masters course, and then someday perhaps I will lecture… or maybe, get a lovely job at somewhere like Google.

So, in conclusion… the “dramatic junction” I’m standing at right now is steep, but I’m very much looking forward to the climb ahead of me. Knowing I’ll have a woman like Jen by my side, and such wonderful friends and family, gives me confidence that I can succeed in this weird and wonderful life.

The Memory Recall Of Pop-Up Advertisements Amongst Experienced Internet Users

Yes, I know that IS a long subject line… it’s the title of my research which has been printed and hard-bound, and handed into the college, and I’ve presented it at the PSI Student Congress. It’s all finally over and done with. So, if anyone is interested in what I’ve been doing for the last 6 months…. read on.

The Memory Recall Of Pop-Up Advertisements Amongst Experienced Internet Users:

The aim of my study was to examine the relationship between Internet experience and memory retention of pop-up advertisements. Participants completed an online survey about their Internet experience, during which a pop-up advertisement appeared. Participants then completed a paper-pencil test examining their recall of the pop-up. This study found no relationship between experience and memory retention, online. However, low memory recall rates of the pop-up advertisement were found. This study also found that the more experienced a user becomes online the more likely they are to use pop-up blocking software. Implications of this research suggest Internet users learn to actively attempt to remove pop-ups from their surfing experience, that pop-ups are ineffective forms of advertising online, and that online advertisers should focus on alternative forms of advertising.

For the completed dissertation you can download a PDF version here or view the online version here.

There’s a couple of things I wish I could have done this year: use the eye-tracker on my participants, test the stress levels of participants using the net with pop-up blocking software and then without. But alas, doing either of those things would have required twice as much work by myself, and I just didn’t have the time or equipment. Maybe for post-grad.