Halo Effect Contamination in Assessments of Web Interface Design

This paper relies on findings and theory from both the human-computer interaction and cognitive psychology literatures in order to inquire into the extent to which the halo effect contaminates web interface design assessments. As a human cognitive bias, the halo effect manifests itself when a judge's evaluations of an entity's individual characteristics are negatively or positively distorted by the judge's overall affect toward the entity being judged. These distortions and halo-induced delusions have substantial negative implications for rational decisionmaking and the ability to objectively evaluate businesses, technologies, or other humans, and should hence be a critical consideration for both managers and organizations alike. Here we inquire into the halo effect using a controlled, randomized experiment involving more than 1,200 research subjects. Subjects' preexisting affective states were activated using polarizing issues including abortion rights, immigration policy, and gun control laws. Subjects were then asked to evaluate specific interface characteristics of six different types of websites, the textual content of which either supported or contradicted their preexisting affective beliefs. Comparing subject responses to objective control evaluations revealed strong evidence of halo effect contamination in assessments of web interface design, particularly among men. In light of the results, a theoretical framework integrating elements from cognitive and evolutionary psychology is proposed to explain the origins and purpose of the halo effect

Push Yourself a Bit Harder: The Impacts of Force-based Gestures on Consumer Decisiveness and Self-Regulation

The emergence of force-based gestures (e.g., peek and pop) brings more functionalities to mobile interaction. Although it is believed that peek and pop could facilitate user navigation experience, the psychological and behavioral effects of force-based gestures remain unexplored. This study aims to investigate whether and how force-based gestures (gentle tap vs. hard press) influence mobile consumer decision making. Drawing on Embodied Cognition Theory and Mobile Application Usability literature, we propose that hard press (compared with gentle tap) could make consumers more decisive and thus lead to faster decisions; moreover, hard press (compared with gentle tap) could also facilitate willpower summoning and thus enhance consumer self-control. We also propose that these effects are contingent on visual responsiveness. Accordingly, a 2 by 2 lab experiment is designed. Potential theoretical contributions, practical implications as well as future research directions are discussed

The curious case of the refrigerator-TV: similarity and hybridization

This paper examines the role of similarity in the hybridization of concepts, focusing on hybrid products as an applied test case. Hybrid concepts found in natural language, such as singer songwriter, typically combine similar concepts, whereas dissimilar concepts rarely form hybrids. The hybridization of dissimilar concepts in products such as jogging shoe mp3 player, and refrigerator TV thus poses a challenge for understanding the process of conceptual combination. It is proposed that models of conceptual combination can throw light on the judged future success and desirability of hybrid products in general. The composite prototype model proposes two stages of conceptual combination. In the first stage, the concepts are aggregated into an additive hybrid, simply by forming the union of the two sets of attributes. In the second stage, any conflicting attributes are identified and resolved, often with the introduction of emergent attributes, resulting in an integrative hybrid. Across four studies that varied the similarity and type of hybrid products, similar and integrative hybrids were valued more than dissimilar and additive hybrids. Critically, though, dissimilar hybrids were also highly valued if they were integrative. Results supported the two stages proposed by the composite prototype model, and implications for other models of hybrid formation are discussed

Studying the Transfer of Biases from Programmers to Programs

It is generally agreed that one origin of machine bias is resulting from characteristics within the dataset on which the algorithms are trained, i.e., the data does not warrant a generalized inference. We, however, hypothesize that a different `mechanism', hitherto not articulated in the literature, may also be responsible for machine's bias, namely that biases may originate from (i) the programmers' cultural background, such as education or line of work, or (ii) the contextual programming environment, such as software requirements or developer tools. Combining an experimental and comparative design, we studied the effects of cultural metaphors and contextual metaphors, and tested whether each of these would `transfer' from the programmer to program, thus constituting a machine bias. The results show (i) that cultural metaphors influence the programmer's choices and (ii) that `induced' contextual metaphors can be used to moderate or exacerbate the effects of the cultural metaphors. This supports our hypothesis that biases in automated systems do not always originate from within the machine's training data. Instead, machines may also `replicate' and `reproduce' biases from the programmers' cultural background by the transfer of cultural metaphors into the programming process. Implications for academia and professional practice range from the micro programming-level to the macro national-regulations or educational level, and span across all societal domains where software-based systems are operating such as the popular AI-based automated decision support systems.Comment: 40 pages of which 7 pages of Appendix, 26 Figures, 2 Table

Creativity Loading – Please Wait! Investigating the Relationship between Interruption, Mind Wandering and Creativity

With the advancement of information technologies, routine tasks are increasingly supported by information systems, which is why ideation and creativity is becoming more and more important. We know from many anecdotes that creative ideas emerge when our mind is wandering instead of being focused on the task at hand. Yet, most information systems that are used for work-related purposes offer only little opportunities for task-unrelated thoughts. In contrast, current literature shows that most information technology is designed to keep our attention. In order to better understand the value of mind wandering, we propose an experimental design that incorporates interruptions that vary in their length with the objective to stimulate episodes of mind wandering and thus positively impact creativity. We provide initial insights on how the experiment should designed and discuss implications for future research

Beyond Time and Space:The Effect of a Lateralized Sustained Attention Task and Brain Stimulation on Spatial and Selective Attention

The Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) provides a mathematical formalisation of the “biased competition” account of visual attention. Applying this model to individual performance in a free recall task allows the estimation of 5 independent attentional parameters: visual short-term memory (VSTM) capacity, speed of information processing, perceptual threshold of visual detection; attentional weights representing spatial distribution of attention (spatial bias), and the top-down selectivity index. While the TVA focuses on selection in space, complementary accounts of attention describe how attention is maintained over time, and how temporal processes interact with selection. A growing body of evidence indicates that different facets of attention interact and share common neural substrates. The aim of the current study was to modulate a spatial attentional bias via transfer effects, based on a mechanistic understanding of the interplay between spatial, selective and temporal aspects of attention. Specifically, we examined here: (i) whether a single administration of a lateralized sustained attention task could prime spatial orienting and lead to transferable changes in attentional weights (assigned to the left vs right hemi-field) and/or other attentional parameters assessed within the framework of TVA (Experiment 1); (ii) whether the effects of such spatial-priming on TVA parameters could be further enhanced by bi-parietal high frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) (Experiment 2). Our results demonstrate that spatial attentional bias, as assessed within the TVA framework, was primed by sustaining attention towards the right hemi-field, but this spatial-priming effect did not occur when sustaining attention towards the left. Furthermore, we show that bi-parietal high-frequency tRNS combined with the rightward spatial-priming resulted in an increased attentional selectivity. To conclude, we present a novel, theory-driven method for attentional modulation providing important insights into how the spatial and temporal processes in attention interact with attentional selection

Proposing the Affect-Trust Infusion Model (ATIM) to Explain and Predict the Influence of High- and Low-Affect Infusion on Web Vendor Trust

Trust is just as essential to online business as it is to offline transactions but can be more difficult to achieve-especially for newer websites with unknown web vendors. Research on web-based trust development explains that web vendor trust can be created by both cognitive and affective (e.g., emotion-based) influences. But under what circumstances will emotion or cognition be more dominate in trust establishment? Theory-based answers to these questions can help online web vendors design better websites that account for unleveraged factors that will increase trust in the web vendor. To this end, we use the Affect Infusion Model and trust transference to propose the Affect-Trust Infusion Model (ATIM) that explains and predicts how and when cognition, through perceived website performance (PwP), and positive emotion (PEmo) each influence web vendor trust. ATIM explains the underlying causal mechanisms that determine the degree of affect infusion and the subsequent processing strategy that a user adopts when interacting with a new website. Under high-affect infusion, PEmo acts as a mediator between PwP and vendor trust; under low-affect infusion, PwP primarily impacts trust and PEmo is dis-intermediated. We review two distinct, rigorously validated experiments that empirically support ATIM. To further extend the contributions of ATIM, we demonstrate how use of specific contextual features-rooted in theory and that drive one\u27s choice of affect infusion and cognitive processing-can be leveraged into a methodology that we propose to further enhance user-centered design (UCD). We further detail several exciting research opportunities that can leverage ATIM

Micro-Valences: Perceiving Affective Valence in Everyday Objects

Perceiving the affective valence of objects influences how we think about and react to the world around us. Conversely, the speed and quality with which we visually recognize objects in a visual scene can vary dramatically depending on that scene’s affective content. Although typical visual scenes contain mostly “everyday” objects, the affect perception in visual objects has been studied using somewhat atypical stimuli with strong affective valences (e.g., guns or roses). Here we explore whether affective valence must be strong or overt to exert an effect on our visual perception. We conclude that everyday objects carry subtle affective valences – “micro-valences” – which are intrinsic to their perceptual representation