Evolution of attitudes toward computers: a retrospective view

This article reviews three previous factor analysis based studies of aggregate attitudes concerning the computer milieu and compares them with a recent one done by the authors; the four studies span almost twenty years. While providing a useful basis for making generalizations about current perceptions of the computer's role, the latest study also sought to determine whether there was a group of persons who were fearful or anxious about the computer, whose concerns were masked in studies of aggregate attitudes. By using an instrument that was evaluated by an expert in phobic behaviour, it was possible to identify a populationthat was significantly different from the general population in attitude toward computers. The value of the current study, then, is two-fold. It makes possible a retrospective view of aggregate perceptions of the general population about computers and also offers a glimpse of the attributes of those computer phobic or anxious persons who have not yet adapted to computer technology.