Search results for "Computer"

Best Friends Forever? Modeling the Mechanisms of Friendship Network Formation

2020

The formation of friendships and alliances is a ubiquitous feature of human life, and likely a crucial component of the cooperative hunting and child-rearing practices that helped our early hominin ancestors survive. Research on contemporary human beings typically finds that strong-tie social networks are fairly small, and reveals a high degree of physical (e.g., age) and social-structural (e.g., educational attainment) homophily. Yet, existing work all too often underestimates, or even ignores, the importance of abstract, symbolic homophily (such as shared identities or worldviews) as a driver of friendship formation. Here we employ agent-based modeling to identify the optimal variable wei…

Smartphone usage among older adults

2021

Abstract Problematic smartphone usage, associated with impaired daily functioning, has gained increased attention among researchers. However, extant research is focusing on adolescents and younger adults. This paper investigates smartphone usage among older adults, of which less is known. To do so, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 154 smartphone users (60+ years) in Norway using structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). We examined the contributing roles of loneliness, habit, social influence, emotional gain, fear of missing out, self-control, and problematic smartphone usage. We further investigated how older adults engage with their smartphones. Our findings suggest that older adult…

Investigating effects of reading medium and reading purpose on behavioral engagement and textual integration in a multiple text context

2019

Abstract The study addressed to what extent behavioral engagement and textual integration may differ when undergraduate readers work with identical printed versus digital texts in preparation for an exam versus for pleasure. We expected that working with printed texts would lead to greater engagement and better integration than working with digital texts, but that reading purpose would moderate this effect of reading medium because those reading in preparation for an exam would display greater engagement and better integration regardless of reading medium. Results showed interaction effects of reading medium with reading purpose on the behavioral engagement indicators of reading time and th…

Corrigendum to ““Facebocrastination”? Predictors of using Facebook for procrastination and its effects on students' well-being” [Computers in Human B…

2017

Emotions in Wikipedia: the role of intended negative events in the expression of sadness and anger in online peer production

2018

ABSTRACTThe online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has strict guidelines for ensuring the objectivity of its content and unbiased language of its articles. Wikipedia also provides articles on negative even...

The association of the availability of offline gay scenes and national tolerance of homosexuality with gay and bisexual men's sexual online dating be…

2020

Abstract Based on a uses and gratifications perspective on media use, in this paper I analyze the important role played by dating sites for men who have sex with men (MSM) in their efforts to find offline sexual partners. To do so, I conducted two quantitative surveys. In Study 1, I compared the online dating behavior of 12,328 MSM from Germany and Austria with the availability of offline sexual gay venues and how frequently MSM visit such venues. In Study 2, I used a global sample of 30,789 MSM to compare the frequency and recency of online dates of men living in countries that support male homosexuality and those in countries that criminalize it. The findings suggest that MSM-specific dat…

Does orthographic processing emerge rapidly after learning a new script?

2021

Epub 2020 Aug 11 Orthographic processing is characterized by location-invariant and location-specific processing (Grainger, 2018): (1) strings of letters are more vulnerable to transposition effects than the strings of symbols in same-different tasks (location-invariant processing); and (2) strings of letters, but not strings of symbols, show an initial position advantage in target-in-string identification tasks (location-specific processing). To examine the emergence of these two markers of orthographic processing, we conducted a same-different task and a target-in-string identification task with two unfamiliar scripts (pre-training experiments). Across six training sessions, participants …

“Thanks for Watching.” The Effectiveness of YouTube vlogendorsements

2019

This study examines the effectiveness of brand endorsements in vlogs (video blogs) by assessing the role of audience participation, parasocial relationship, and valence toward vlog endorsements on the perceived credibility of the vlogger and brand attitudes. Four experimental conditions were created on Qualtrics based on a YouTube vlog where the endorser reviewed a few products. The data were collected using Mturk and analyzed with 203 usable responses. The findings indicate that audience participation in the vlog enhances para-social relationship with the vlogger, thus further fostering the vlogger's perceived credibility as an endorser. Additionally, the valence of the audience's attitude…

A virtual reality system for the treatment of stress-related disorders: A preliminary analysis of efficacy compared to a standard cognitive behaviora…

2011

This paper presents preliminary efficacy data in a controlled study of the use of a virtual reality (VR) system for treating stress-related disorders (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD; Pathological Grief, or PG; and Adjustment Disorders, or AD). ''EMMA's World'' is a VR application in which patients can explore negative experiences to the degree required for their specific therapeutic needs. To accomplish therapeutic goals, a series of virtual elements is customized to be meaningful to the user; the elements contain the fundamental emotional components that the person must confront. Thirty-nine participants diagnosed with PTSD (N=10), PG (N=16), and AD (N=13) were randomly assigned t…

The perception of elite athletes’ guided self-reflection and performance in archery

2016

AbstractSelf-reflection has been shown to enhance professional development in clinical, counselling and educational settings. Recent research found that self-reflection can enhance performance in elite sports. The purpose of this intervention study was two-fold: Firstly, to examine whether a guided reflective diary was effective in enhancing accuracy in elite archery, and secondly, to identify factors facilitating and hindering the usage of the guided reflective diary. Eight Singaporean elite archers (four females, four males), aged 20–24 years, reflected on their training using the diary for a period of five weeks. Their pre- and post-intervention performance scores were collected and qual…