Computers in Human Behavior最新文献

Psychopathological symptoms, especially depression and anxiety, can contribute to the development of addictive tendencies offline and online. The present cross-national study aims to verify whether Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and Preference for Online Social Interactions (POSI) could explain the relationship between psychopathological symptoms (i.e., depression and anxiety symptoms) and Social Networking Sites (SNS) addiction. We tested our hypothesis in two samples from Poland (N = 1163) and Germany (N = 781) using self-report measures of psychopathological symptoms, FoMO, POSI, and SNS addiction. In both countries, we found the same result pattern. Depression and anxiety symptoms were positively related to SNS addiction. Moreover, FoMO and POSI partially mediated the relationship between psychopathological symptoms and addictive SNS use. Notably, the relationship between psychopathological symptoms is significantly more robust via FoMO as it is an essential predictor of SNS addiction in both countries. Our findings show that ineffective emotional regulation, as well as maladaptive thoughts and beliefs about one's Internet use among persons with psychopathological symptoms, might increase the risk for SNS addiction.

Online labor platforms widely implement algorithmic control to ensure that workers consistently deliver quality services. However, extensive evidence suggests that platform workers under the tight monitoring of algorithms still engage in customer-directed deviant behavior, which raises questions about the effectiveness of algorithmic control. Thus, we draw on ego depletion theory to examine the critical issue of why and when algorithmic control fails to reduce workers' undesirable behavior toward customers. This study conducted a three-phase online questionnaire survey with 377 ride-hailing drivers in China. Data were analyzed using the PROCESS macro model. The results show that algorithmic control excessively drains workers' limited self-control resources and drives them into an ego-depleted state with low control ability, which further creates conditions for more deviance. Algorithmic transparency alleviates the influence of algorithmic control on ego depletion, whereas financial dependence on platform work mitigates the impact of ego depletion on customer-directed deviance. The indirect effect of ego depletion is most pronounced when both algorithmic transparency and financial dependence are lower. We shed light on the mediating mechanism and boundary conditions of the unexpected facilitating influence of algorithmic control on workers’ customer-directed deviant behavior, providing feasible directions for optimizing algorithmic control system design and reducing customer-directed deviant behavior.

As artificial intelligence technologies evolve, a discernible trend is emerging wherein chatbots are imbued with the capability to articulate emotions within online customer service. However, the research on emotional expression by chatbots is still in its infancy, and the existing research on this aspect is inconclusive. Therefore, from the perspective of chatbots expressing humor, this study proposes a boundary condition for the effectiveness of chatbot-expressed humor and a different influence mechanism of expressing humor in different dialogues on service satisfaction through four experimental studies. Our study found that chatbots' expression of humor in chit-chat dialogues leads to higher perceived entertainment and service satisfaction for customers; however, chatbots' expression of humor in task-oriented dialogues leads to distraction and lower service satisfaction. In addition, we found that entertainment significantly mediated between humor in chit-chat dialogues and service satisfaction, while distraction had a significant indirect effect between humor in task-oriented dialogues and service satisfaction. These findings deepen our understanding of chatbot-expressed humor and provide valuable insights into online retailers’ deployment of humorous chatbots.

The association between internalized homophobia and mental health problems is well-documented among sexual minority individuals. At the same time, growing evidence suggests that dating apps influence sexual minority individuals’ well-being in different ways. Using data collected from 2165 Israeli cisgender and transgender sexual minority individuals, this study examined the interplay of internalized homophobia, compulsive use of dating apps, and mental distress in this population. The findings show that compulsive use of dating apps mediates the association between internalized homophobia and mental distress, and that internalized homophobia mediates the association between compulsive use of dating apps and mental distress. The purpose of using dating apps does not moderate these mediated relationships. The results also suggested differences between the sample subgroups in levels of internalized homophobia, mental distress, and compulsive use of dating apps.

Social media has created a new social landscape for adolescents. Knowledge is needed on how this landscape shapes adolescents’ social skills and time spent with friends, as these outcomes are important to mental health and psychosocial functioning. Using five waves of biennially collected data from a birth cohort assessed throughout age 10–18 years (n = 812), we found that increased social media use predicted more time with friends offline but was unrelated to future changes in social skills. Age and sex did not moderate these associations but increased social media use predicted declined social skills among those high in social anxiety symptoms. The findings suggest that social media use may neither harm nor benefit the development of social skills and may promote, rather than displace, offline interaction with friends during adolescence. However, increased social media use may pose a risk for reduced social skills in socially anxious individuals.

Little is known about how children perceive, trust and learn from social robots compared to humans. The goal of this study was to compare a robot and a human agent in a selective trust task across different combinations of reliability (both reliable, only human reliable, or only robot reliable). 111 children, aged 3 to 6 years, participated in an online study where they viewed videos of a human and a robot labelling both familiar and novel objects. We found that, although children preferred to endorse a novel object label from the agent who previously labelled familiar objects correctly, when both the human and the robot were reliable they were biased more towards the robot. Their social evaluations also tended much more strongly towards a general robot preference. Children’s conceptualisations of the agents making a mistake also differed, such that an unreliable human was selected as doing things on purpose, but not an unreliable robot. These findings suggest that children’s perceptions of a robot’s reliability are separate from their evaluation of its desirability as a social interaction partner and its perceived agency. Further, they indicate that a robot making a mistake does not necessarily reduce children’s desire to interact with it as a social agent.

At present, ubiquitous learning has been becoming an important learning style for college students. However, the current studies on ubiquitous learning mostly focus on aspects such as communication and data interaction methods, while ignoring students' academic emotions. In this paper, we propose an individual adaptive ubiquitous learning paradigm that focuses on college students' academic emotions. The paradigm collects and analyses students' academic emotions to grasp student's individual characteristics. Then, the adaptive planning and adjusting learning contents is beneficial for improving students' academic emotions and enhancing the ubiquitous learning effects, initiative and concentration. In this study, the 2-year-long comparative experiments and tracking analyses were conducted from four aspects: academic grades, average study hours in after-school spare time, academic emotions status and classroom participation. The experimental results show that the individual adaptive ubiquitous learning paradigm proposed in this paper has significant positive effects and impacts on college students' learning outcomes, initiative, engagement and academic emotions.

The growth of the Metaverse has been massive in the last two years. However, limited evidence exists to understand how consumers perceive it as a potential retail space. This study investigates the effect of information (central route) and design (peripheral route) to experience and its subsequent impact on purchase intention and continuation intention in the Metaverse. The study also employed actual and ideal self-congruence to test its indirect effect on the model. This study was conducted using a simulated metaverse space by employing a 3x3 factorial design in which the data was collected from 354 participants. The results indicate that information and design are crucial in developing a metaverse experience, which builds positive purchase and continuation intentions in metaverse space. It was also found that ideal self-congruence with the Metaverse significantly creates an indirect relationship effect. The study extends theoretical knowledge of various theories and metaverse literature and suggests implications to managers.

As many services convert to digital based on human-machine communication technology, older adults face considerable challenges. With the goal to identify ways to design digital services that are easier for older adults to use, this paper uses the strategy of making self-ordering kiosks more similar to the original version (i.e., paper menu) focusing on three familiarity design approaches: representation, manipulation, and organization. A 2 (skeuomorphic vs. flat design) x 2 (hierarchical vs. linear navigation structure) between-subject design experiment was conducted with individuals aged over 65 years (N = 60). Participants perceived that the skeuomorphic design was easier to use compared to the flat design, and the linear navigation structure increased perceived self-efficacy, usefulness, and intention to use compared to the hierarchical navigation structure. Participants also completed the tasks more quickly in the skeuomorphic design (vs. flat design) and linear navigation structure (vs. hierarchical structure) conditions. Interaction effects suggest that the task completion time was further reduced when skeuomorphic design was used with a linear navigation structure. Furthermore, fewer people requested assistance when they used a linear navigation structure. Serial multiple mediation results showed that the influence of linear navigation structure on intention to use was mediated by perceived self-efficacy and usefulness.

Although companies are investing more in avatars to improve interactivity and engage their customers better, the effectiveness of avatars in online markets needs more evidences. This study explores the influence mechanism of anthropomorphism on consumers' willingness to accept virtual live streamers, grounded in social identity theory and construal levels theory. Three research hypotheses were formulated and tested through an online scenario experiment employing a 2 (high anthropomorphism vs. low anthropomorphism) and 2 (utilitarian products vs. hedonic products) between-subjects design (N = 214). The results reveal that anthropomorphism positively influences consumers' willingness to accept virtual live streamers. This effect is mediated through the chain mediation effects of psychological distance and trust (effect = 0.181, 95% confidence interval = [0.075, 0.299]). Additionally, product type serves as a moderator in this process. Specifically, the mediation is significant for utilitarian products (effect = 0.410, 95% confidence interval = [0.203, 0.604]) but not for hedonic products (effect = 0.102, 95% confidence interval = [-0.106, 0.310]). These findings contribute to understanding the effectiveness of avatar marketing in live streaming commerce, specifically consumers' willingness to accept virtual live streamers, and enrich the literature on anthropomorphism in online marketplaces. Furthermore, they assist live streaming commerce operators in developing effective anthropomorphism strategies to enhance the utilization efficiency of virtual live streamers.