The User Affective Experience Scale: A Measure of Emotions Anticipated in Response to Pop-Up Computer Warnings

We measured reported User Affective Experience (UAX) anticipated to pop-up warnings that unexpectedly appear during computer use. Such warnings, designed to protect the user, are often ignored, suggesting the influence of nonrational factors. Emotions can both enhance and undermine effective decision-making, but in the decision literature they are typically defined and measured simply in terms of positive and negative valence. We examined discrete emotions anticipated when pop-up warnings appear, including specific positive, negative, individualist, and prosocial emotions based upon affective neuroscience. Forty-five emotions associated with receiving warnings associated with failing to update software, both in relaxed online sessions and sessions involving time and attention pressures, were assessed for underlying measurement structure. Four hundred participants were recruited via Mechanical Turk and reported about specific emotions presented in random order. Exploratory structural equation modeling analyses revealed four reliable latent factors for relaxed (R) and pressured (P) conditions: Positive Affect, Anxiety, Hostility, and Loneliness. P conditions were higher in reported Anxiety, Hostility, and Loneliness and lower in reported Positive Affect. Men reported higher feelings of Hostility and Loneliness; women reported higher Anxiety. Implications are discussed for designing pop-up warnings and also more generally regarding conceptualizing and measuring user experience.     

The influence of dispositions and Internet motivation on online communication satisfaction and relationship closeness

Guided by the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) perspective, this study examined the influence of unwillingness to communicate, loneliness, Internet-use motives, and Internet (CMC) use and interaction (amount and types of use and self-disclosure) in online communication satisfaction and online relationship closeness. There were 261 participants in this study. Overall, participants who perceived their face-to-face communication to be rewarding, used CMC for self-fulfillment, and disclosed their personal feelings to others tended to feel close to their online partners. Moreover, those who used the Internet for purposes of self-fulfillment and affection and intended to disclose their feelings to others felt satisfied with their online communication. The associations among the constructs extend our knowledge of the U&G theoretical model, how and why people communicate interpersonally in CMC settings, and the influence of individual differences on CMC for relational communication.     

Enhancing instructional outcomes with gamification: An empirical test of the Technology-Enhanced Training Effectiveness Model

BackgroundGamification, the use of game elements in non-game contexts, has become a popular technique to improve instructional outcomes in both organizational and educational contexts. In the organizational context, the Technology-Enhanced Training Effectiveness Model [TETEM] provides a framework to understand how technologies, like gamification, can effect change in various instructional outcomes. Specifically, application of TETEM suggests that gamification may not effect change in instructional outcomes when learner attitudes towards game-based learning and experience with video games are low.MethodIn this study, we test this model in the gamification context by assigning potential learners to read scenarios describing gamified instruction or traditional, PowerPoint instruction in a random order and assessing their training valence.ResultsOn average, participants anticipated greater value from gamified instruction, but as predicted by TETEM, this effect was moderated by both video game experience and attitudes towards game-based learning. Among potential learners with high experience and attitudes, gamification produces better outcomes than PowerPoint, but among potential learners with low experience and attitudes, gamification produces worse outcomes than PowerPoint.ImplicationsWe provide empirical support for TETEM and conclude that for gamification to be successful, the attitudes and experience of participants must be assessed and ensured before gamification is implemented.     

Gender,Internet and computer attitudes and experiences

It is widely assumed that participation by females on the Internet is hampered by their attitudes towards computers, which in turn is reflective of their attitudes towards new technology. Research generally supports that females have less overall experience with computers and are more likely than males to have negative attitudes towards computers. Although limited, research on Internet experiences and attitudes has found parallel gender differences, with females reporting lower levels of experience and more negative attitudes. This paper explores whether Internet and computer experiences, skills and attitudes are related, using evidence from two studies of incoming college students, in 1989/90 and 1997. There were significant gender differences in many computer experiences and attitudes of incoming students in 1989/90. Males were more experienced with computers, more likely to have taken high school courses requiring computer use, and reported higher skill levels in applications such as programming, games and graphics than females. By 1997, incoming students were more experienced with using a computer than the earlier students. However, gender differences in computer experience and skill levels had diminished in some areas. The 1997 survey also assessed Internet experiences, skills, competence and comfort. Students had more exposure to computers than to the Internet. Males were more experienced and reported higher skill levels with the Internet than females, with the exception of e-mail. The overall competency and comfort level for students in 1997 was significantly higher for computers than for the Internet; 19% of the students did not feel competent and/or comfortable with the computer compared to 36% with the Internet, with females reporting higher levels of incompetence and discomfort for both. Competence and comfort levels with the Internet and computers were highly intercorrelated, and both predicted Internet skills and experiences.     

The influence of violent video game enjoyment on hostile attributions

Although catharsis theory as applied to violent media has been repeatedly refuted in the literature, scholars have recently proposed methods by which a cognitive form of catharsis might occur for people who utilize games to manage negative affect. Drawing on these ideas, the current study tests how video games are used to manage feelings of frustration and boost one’s sense of competency. It also explores how these emotional processes influence game enjoyment and hostile attribution bias (HAB). We frustrated half of 82 participants prior to randomizing them to play a violent or nonviolent game. Our results showed that frustrated participants were motivated to progress farther in a video game. This in-game performance decreased their feelings of frustration, boosted their sense of competency, and increased their enjoyment of the game. However, for those who played a violent game, this enjoyment predicted hostile attributions: high enjoyment of violence increased HAB, while low enjoyment of violence decreased HAB. These findings have implications for how video games are used to manage negative feelings.     

Plugged in but not connected: Individuals’ views of and responses to online and in-person ostracism

We conducted two studies to examine perceptions of, and reactions to, ostracism occurring either in-person or online. In study 1, participants read a vignette describing either in-person or online ostracism, then estimated their psychological and interpersonal responses as if they experienced such ostracism. Participants anticipated experiencing distress, and this was consistent across ostracism method. Ostracism method did predict negative affect (NA), with greater NA increases anticipated for in-person exclusion, compared to online. A significant interaction between gender and ostracism method predicted anticipated belonging. Males anticipated higher belonging in the in-person condition (relative to online); females anticipated more belonging in the online condition. In study 2, participants experienced in-person or online ostracism during a brief interaction with study confederates. Both conditions elicited similar reports of low inclusion, high exclusion, and significant decreases in positive and negative affect. Ostracism method qualified self-esteem (SE) results; chat room participants indicated an increase in SE following ostracism, whereas in-person participants reported a slight decrease. Males and females were similarly affected by both conditions. These studies demonstrate that online experiences of ostracism may be as meaningful as those experienced in person. Whether this finding generalizes to those with less technological familiarity should be examined further.     

Predictors of creative computing participation and profiles of experience in two Silicon Valley middle schools

Examination of the “digital divide” has increasingly gone beyond the study of differences in physical access to computers to focus on individuals’ use of technological tools for empowered and generative uses. In this research study, we investigated the relationship between access to tools and experience with creative production activities. Our participants included 160 8th grade learners from two public middle schools. The local communities represented by the two schools differed in parent education levels, proportion of recent immigrants, and average family income. Findings indicated substantial variability in students’ history of creative production experiences within both communities. Three sets of analyses were completed. First, the two school populations were compared with respect to average levels of student creative production experience, access to tools at home, use of learning resources, frequency of technology use, and access to computing outside of their home. Second, correlates of variability in individuals’ breadth of experience with creative production activities were explored across both schools through a regression analysis. The resulting model indicated that students’ experience was best predicted by the number of technology tools available at home, number of learning resources used, frequency of computer use at home, and non-home access network size. In a third analysis, profiles of experience were created based on both breadth and depth of experience; the resulting four groups of students were compared. More experienced students utilized a broader range of learning resources, had access to more tools at home, taught a wider range of people, and were more confident in their computing skills. The groups did not differ in their self-reports of interest in learning more about technology.     

Interactively mediating experiences of mindfulness meditation

Sonic Cradle is a human–computer interaction paradigm designed to foster meditative attentional patterns. A user׳s body is suspended comfortably in a completely dark sound chamber while the interaction paradigm subtly encourages them to focus on their breathing to summon and progressively shape an abstract immersive sound experience. Basic interpretive qualitative methods with a purposive sample of 39 participants were used to systematically analyze interview data after a 15-min experience of the system. Results suggest that this persuasive medium can pleasantly encourage an experience comparable to mindfulness by consistently inducing a calm mental clarity and loss of intention. Surprisingly, participants also reported perceptual illusions, feelings of floating, and emotional responses. Mounting evidence implies mindfulness meditation as an effective practice for self-regulation; this study represents a first step toward realizing technology׳s potential to increase wellbeing by introducing people to this psychologically beneficial contemplative practice.     

Situational determinants of cognitive,affective, and compassionate empathy in naturalistic digital interactions

Empathy is apparent in computer-mediated communication (CMC), yet little is known about the situational predictors of empathic responses when interacting digitally. We used a diary methodology to explore: (1) the degree three types of empathy (cognitive, affective, and compassionate) are experienced in students' everyday (text- and image-based) dyadic digital interactions; (2) which situational factors are important for (different types of) empathy in CMC; and (3) how empathy reported in everyday CMC affects participants' perceptions of their empathy in CMC and face-to-face (FtF) contexts. One hundred student volunteers (50 women, M_age = 22.57 years) completed a “digital interaction diary” for three consecutive days, yielding 1939 observations. Participants reported significantly more cognitive than affective empathy, and significantly greater affective than compassionate empathy. Several situational variables (e.g., number of communications, recipient) were related to empathy overall, while others (e.g., subject, mood) contributed to discrete contextual profiles for the empathy subtypes. Empathy reported in the diaries predicted a more favourable ratio of perceived CMC to FtF empathy, particularly for those lower in baseline trait empathy. These findings help elucidate the multidimensional experience of empathy in CMC interactions.     

The Greek computer attitudes scale: construction and assessment of psychometric properties

The purpose of this paper was to develop and test the psychometric properties of a computer attitudes scale for the Greek population. Through both adapting items from other scales and writing new items, this study developed a Greek Computer Attitudes Scale of 30 items, with three subscales: confidence, affection, and cognitive. This study also explored sex differences on the GCAS, and the relationship between age, computer experience, and confidence with computers and participants’ responses on the scale. Questionnaire data from four Greek samples, which included participants from the general population (185 and 354 individuals, respectively), 222 teachers and 99 undergraduate students, were analyzed. Results indicated that: (1) both the reliability (internal consistency and test–retest) and validity (concurrent) of the GCAS were adequate; (2) the relationship between age and GCAS was not significant, whereas sex did not have a significant effect on GCAS scores; and (3) perceived computer experience and confidence with computers were strongly related to favorable attitudes toward computers.     

The use of information technology among young adults--experience, attitudes and health beliefs

The aim of this study was to explore attitudes, coherence and health beliefs among young adults, related to their use and experience of information technology (IT). A qualitative approach was used and the data were collected through individual thematised interviews with 25 young IT users, aged 18–24. The interviews were analysed in line with the grounded theory method with a constructivist approach. The main findings were the young adults’ experience of the two sides of being social, efficient and independent here and now. They described almost unlimited opportunities in connection with IT, but they also had misgivings, and perceived risks regarding IT use. Feelings of freedom and being efficient were countered by feelings of restrictions on living space and of intangibility. Knowledge concerning these attitudes, coherence and health beliefs can be considered when designing epidemiological and ergonomic studies aimed at risk identification.     

The impact of negative attitudes toward computers on employees' satisfaction and commitment within a small company

In order to examine the impact of negative attitudes toward computer usage, a survey was administered that measured attitudes toward computers, the level of job satisfaction in the work environment, and general attitudes toward the organization. Twenty-nine employees at a real estate office completed a 24-item survey during a regularly scheduled employee meeting. Attitudes toward computers were generally positive; however, about one third of the sample felt incompetent in their ability to use computers, and 21% said that they avoid using computers altogether. Results also indicated that feelings of frustration and confusion about the use of computers were associated with lower job satisfaction. While negative attitudes towards computers were related to one 's attitudes toward the job, these attitudes were unrelated to one's feeling toward the company. Thus, computerphobia may have a strong link to individual job satisfaction, with any consequence for overall attitudes toward the company operating through prolonged dissatisfaction with one's job.     

Rate My Expectations: How online evaluations of professors impact students’ perceived control

Ratemyprofessors.com (RMP) is a website on which students can post their ratings of professors. The site is widely used; however, little research has examined the effect RMP content has on expectations and approach to the reviewed class. Two studies examined the hypothesis that Ratemyprofessors.com can have an impact on students’ impressions of professors and directly affect student perceptions of control over the course outcome and their attitudes toward taking the course. In Study 1, participants recalled an experience visiting Ratemyprofessors.com and taking a class from the professor reviewed. Most participants reported a positive impression, an increase in perceived control, and a subsequent positive classroom experience that exceeded expectations. In Study 2, participants read and evaluated either a set of negative or positive comments about a given professor. Results indicated that positive comments had a more positive effect on perceived control, grade expectancy, and attitude toward the class, than did the negative comments. Thus, these results suggest that content on RMP can impact student expectations and approach to a potential class.     

Computers,anxiety, and gender: an analysis of reactions to the Y2K computer problem

The current study investigated computer attitudes, anxiety, behavior, and gender in the context of a computer-related uncertain event with potentially far-reaching implications, the Y2K computer problem. Internet-based data collection resulted in a sample of 1500 participants who completed questionnaires on a research website. Path analyses showed that Y2K anxiety and preparations were significantly predicted by a number of variables, including computer anxiety and negative attitudes toward computers, trait anxiety, and gender. Trait anxiety significantly predicted computer anxiety and negative attitudes toward computers. Gender significantly predicted Y2K anxiety, trait anxiety, and computer anxiety, but indirect effects of gender on Y2K anxiety as mediated by the other variables were not significant, suggesting that women's higher levels of trait and computer anxiety did not explain their greater Y2K anxiety. The path model with the best overall fit included computer anxiety predicting negative attitudes computers rather than vice versa. Implications for interventions aimed at reducing situation-specific computer anxiety are discussed, including the importance of targeting anxiety directly, not just negative thoughts about computers.     

Structure and Empathy in Visual Data Storytelling: Evaluating their Influence on Attitude

In the visualization community, it is often assumed that visual data storytelling increases memorability and engagement, making it more effective at communicating information. However, many assumptions about the efficacy of storytelling in visualization lack empirical evaluation. Contributing to an emerging body of work, we study whether selected techniques commonly used in visual data storytelling influence people's attitudes towards immigration. We compare (a) personal visual narratives designed to generate empathy; (b) structured visual narratives of aggregates of people; and (c) an exploratory visualization without narrative acting as a control condition. We conducted two crowdsourced between-subject studies comparing the three conditions, each with 300 participants. To assess the differences in attitudes between conditions, we adopted established scales from the social sciences used in the European Social Survey (ESS). Although we found some differences between conditions, the effects on people's attitudes are smaller than we expected. Our findings suggest that we need to be more careful when it comes to our expectations about the effects visual data storytelling can have on attitudes. Additional material: https://flowstory.github.io/attitudes/.     

Investigating the influence of age,social capital affinity,and flow on positive outcomes reported by e-commerce site users

This study investigated the role of social capital affinity (the sense of community and likeness felt for people online) and the experience of flow (concentrated engagement in/enjoyment of an activity) as antecedents to a variety of positive outcomes associated with the use of e-commerce sites. Also, based on socio-emotional selectivity theory, the current study assessed the influence of age on social capital affinity and flow. As a subset of data from a telephone sample of Internet users in the USA, 282 e-commerce users responded to questions about site satisfaction, perceived focused and incidental knowledge-gains, and affirmation, in addition to flow and social capital affinity. As predicted by socio-emotional selectivity theory, there was a negative relationship between age and social capital affinity and flow. Flow, for its part, mediated the effects of age and social capital affinity on perceived focused and incidental knowledge-gain, satisfaction and affirmation among participants reporting e-commerce use. Finally, the current results indicated that satisfaction and perceived incidental learning predicted participant affirmation for their chosen e-commerce site.     

Imaginal technology and management information processing: a review of the applied literature

The present study examined the reactions of older and younger workers to the situation of encountering an error during computer-based work. It was expected that older workers would have a stronger negative emotional reaction to such an error due to a combination of age-related factors. In both a questionnaire and an observational study among 134 office workers this was found to be the case. This age relationship remained after controlling for differences in computer experience, attitudes to new technology, education and the number of errors made by participants during a typical computer-based work session. More detailed analyses showed that in response to an error situation, older workers compared to younger ones stated they were significantly less likely to try and solve the problem entirely on their own; this was also partly supported by the observational data. In terms of the available options for helping rectify errors, older workers reported that they were more often likely to use written documentation and rely less on asking other workers. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of interventions to ameliorate the impact of errors in computer-based work on an older workforce.     

Social Presence and the void in distant relationships: How do people use communication technologies to turn absence into fondness of the heart,rather than drifting out of mind?

In general terms, Social Presence is a feeling of togetherness regardless of spatial or temporal separation. It is a socioemotional attitude that reflexively centres on other people, via perceptions of their affective attitudes towards oneself. Communication technologies contribute to the maintenance of close personal relationships by facilitating welcome and timely socioemotional presence in the mind of an absent other. Presence of this kind may be ‘in the moment’ of communication and also persist over time, as it is ‘topped up’ through repeated interactions. In this paper, we consider how type of personal relationship and degree of physical separation might condition the Social Presence value of a range of media. We report ratings of Closeness and Social Presence that were gathered over 21 days by 64 participants about the close personal relationships that were meaningful to them. We contrast the communication media they chose to use across four relationship types and whether separations were in the same or in a different city. Our findings are used to discuss new ways of thinking about the connection between people who care about one another, and the meaning of the void that separates them, through the time course of Social Presence and Closeness experiences.     

Subjective and behavioral presence measurement and interactivity in the collaborative augmented reality game TimeWarp

Presence is usually assessed via a variety of subjective and objective measures. However, constraints often result in subjective measurements using questionnaires as a key method of data collection. In this paper we present a study of 44 participants of a collaborative augmented reality game known as TimeWarp which used both subjective and objective behavioral measures. Behavior as coded from video recordings of one scene of the game and self-reports about feelings of presence were compared. Our findings indicate that pointing behavior and verbal responses to the virtual content are correlated negatively to sense of presence. We further investigated the influence of subjectively perceived interactivity on perceived presence. We found that the interaction possibilities perceived by the participants predicted their experience of social presence with the virtual characters in the game. Furthermore, playing together with another person did not result in decreased social presence of the virtual characters. Implications for presence research are discussed.