Balancing perceptions of targeting: An investigation of political microtargeting transparency through a calculus approach.

Over the last few years, political advertisers have moved with their audiences: to social media platforms. Advertisers on these platforms aim to persuade voters by sending messages tailored to them based on their own data: political microtargeting (PMT). A considerable problem with PMT is that users are often unaware that they are being targeted, while current transparency advances do not seem to suffice in informing users. However, increasing transparency may have consequences on users' privacy perceptions. Thus, the current work investigates whether disclosures, as a measure to increase transparency, increase users' recognition of a microtargeted ad, and subsequently what this means for their perceived benefits, privacy concerns, and their likelihood of engaging in privacy protection behavior, based on the privacy calculus. In a preregistered online one-factorial between-subjects experiment (N = 450) we exposed participants to either an Instagram post containing a currently used disclosure or a more salient disclosure. Our results show that exposure to this disclosure increases recognition of the ad being microtargeted, and that this relates to perceived benefits but not privacy concerns. However, the results show that users' privacy concerns are related to their increased privacy protection behavior. Finally, we found that over four-fifths of our participants who were exposed to the more salient disclosure recalled it correctly.

The robotic mentalist - On the influences of robots' mentalizing abilities and external manipulative intent on people's credibility attributions.

Robots are used in various social interactions that require them to be perceived as credible agents (e.g., as product recommenders in shopping malls). To be rated credible (i.e., competent, trustworthy, and caring) a robot's mentalizing abilities have shown to be beneficial because they allow a robot to infer users' inner states, thus serving as a prerequisite for understanding their beliefs and attitudes. However, social robots are often deployed by private and thus profit-oriented companies. In such cases where an organization's implied manipulative intent is salient, the effect of robots' mentalizing abilities might be reversed. The reason for this is that mentalizing abilities could pose a persuasive threat to users rather than a feature for better understanding, thereby decreasing credibility attributions. These assumptions were tested in a three (robot's mentalizing abilities) by two (external manipulative intent) between-subjects, pre-registered, laboratory experiment during which participants interacted with a social robot that recommended experience vouchers as potential gifts for participants' target persons. Contrary to our assumptions, inferential statistical results revealed no significant differences in explicit or indirect credibility attributions caused by the experimental manipulation. The external manipulative intent of an organization using the robot caused no differences in participants' behavioral intentions or evaluations of it. Furthermore, only participants' attribution of empathic understanding to the robot varied significantly between the three mentalizing conditions. Our results suggest that people focus more on the robot than on the organization using it, causing potential opportunities for such organizations to hide their economic interests from the users.

How the expertise heuristic accelerates decision-making and credibility judgments in social media by means of effort reduction.

Real-time communication, unlimited distribution of information, and the lack of editorial supervision in social media communication aggravate recipients' credibility evaluations and information selection by what aspects of the source such as expertise have emerged as important anchors for evaluations. It has long been assumed that credibility judgments in social media are specifically guided by heuristics. However, the existing studies merely give indications, for example, based on individuals' self-report but do not test whether important attributes and prerequisites of heuristic decision-making, such as effort reduction, are present. Against this background, the current study (N = 185) analyses by applying a reduced two-alternative choice paradigm whether the relation between the expertise cue and credibility judgments and the choice of information sources is guided by a heuristic, namely the expertise heuristic. Findings indicate that the presence of the expertise cue reduced respondents' task latencies significantly, although participants' decision behavior was not independent from additional information. This is discussed in detail with recourse to theoretical conceptualizations of cognitive heuristics.

The persuasive power of robot touch. Behavioral and evaluative consequences of non-functional touch from a robot.

The unique physical embodiment of robots enables physical contact between machines and humans. Since interpersonal touch research has demonstrated that touch has several positive behavioral (e.g., reduced stress, better immune functioning) as well as evaluative consequences (e.g., better evaluation of the initiator of touch), the question arises whether touch from a humanoid robot, the body of which is somewhat similar to that of a human, can evoke similar effects. To answer this question, we conducted a between-subjects experiment in the laboratory with n = 48 students who encountered a humanoid robot (Softbank Robotics' NAO) that either did or did not touch their hand in a non-functional manner during a counseling conversation. The analyses of participants' behavior revealed that they mostly reacted by smiling and laughing. Furthermore, participants who were touched by the robot complied significantly more frequently with a request posed by the robot during conversation, and reported better feelings compared to those who were not touched. However, there were no effects of robot touch on subjective evaluations of the robot or on the interaction experience.

Putting the social back into physical distancing: The role of digital connections in a pandemic crisis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, physical distancing is necessary to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. To compensate for the lack of social encounters, people have been advised to connect with others via digital communication channels. Drawing on a psychological framework combined with assumptions from communication science, we therefore investigated whether technology-mediated communication can actually meet individuals' social needs to foster compliance with distancing measures and whether there are differences between distinct communication channels. Based on an online survey (N = 301) during the first national lockdown in Germany, we found that the impact of audio-visual communication is limited. Instead, the data showed that text-based communication indirectly fostered willingness to adhere to physical distancing through the pathway of increased feelings of social support and life satisfaction. Three follow-up surveys (N = 180) revealed that while feelings of social support increased, people's technology-based communication and willingness to adhere to distancing measures decreased. Our results challenge the assumption that audio-visual communication compensates for lack of physical contact more effectively than text-based communication. This study highlights the potential of text-based communication to increase feelings of social support, which may be particularly important during a pandemic.

Out of Control - Privacy Calculus and the Effect of Perceived Control and Moral Considerations on the Usage of IoT Healthcare Devices.

People are increasingly applying Internet of Things (IoT) devices that help them improve their fitness and provide information about their state of health. Although the acceptance of healthcare devices is increasing throughout the general population, IoT gadgets are reliant on sensitive user data in order to provide full functioning and customized operation. More than in other areas of IoT, healthcare applications pose a challenge to individual privacy. In this study, we examine whether actual and perceived control of collected data affects the willingness to use an IoT healthcare device. We further measure actual behavior as a result of a risk-benefit trade-off within the framework of privacy calculus theory. Our experiment with N = 209 participants demonstrates that while actual control does not affect the willingness to use IoT in healthcare, people have a higher intention to use an IoT healthcare device when they perceive to be in control of their data. Furthermore, we found that, prior to their decision, individuals weigh perceived risks and anticipated benefits of information disclosure, which demonstrates the potential to apply the privacy calculus in the context of IoT healthcare technology. Finally, users' moral considerations of IoT in healthcare are discussed.

Expectations vs. actual behavior of a social robot: An experimental investigation of the effects of a social robot's interaction skill level and its expected future role on people's evaluations.

Since social robots are increasingly entering areas of people's personal lives, it is crucial to examine what affects people's perceptions and evaluations of these robots. In this study, three potential influences are examined: 1) the robot's level of interaction skills, 2) the robot's expected future role as a helpful assistant or a threatening competitor, and 3) people's individual background with regard to robots and technology in general. In an experimental lab study with a 2x2 between-subjects-design (N = 162), people read a vignette describing the social robot Nao either as assistant or competitor and subsequently interacted with Nao, which either displayed high or low interaction skills. Results of a structural equation model show that the robot's interaction skill level had the strongest effect, with a low level leading to a negative evaluation of the robot's sociability and competence and subsequently a negative general evaluation of the interaction with the robot. A robot which was expected to become a competitor was also evaluated as less sociable than a robot expected to become an assistant. Overall, in case of an actual interaction with a social robot, the robot's behavior is more decisive for people's evaluations of it than their expectations or individual backgrounds.

Age-Related Differences in the Evaluation of a Virtual Health Agent's Appearance and Embodiment in a Health-Related Interaction: Experimental Lab Study.

BACKGROUND: Assistive technologies have become more important owing to the aging population, especially when they foster healthy behaviors. Because of their natural interface, virtual agents are promising assistants for people in need of support. To engage people during an interaction with these technologies, such assistants need to match the users´ needs and preferences, especially with regard to social outcomes. OBJECTIVE: Prior research has already determined the importance of an agent's appearance in a human-agent interaction. As seniors can particularly benefit from the use of virtual agents to maintain their autonomy, it is important to investigate their special needs. However, there are almost no studies focusing on age-related differences with regard to appearance effects. METHODS: A 2×4 between-subjects design was used to investigate the age-related differences of appearance effects in a human-agent interaction. In this study, 46 seniors and 84 students interacted in a health scenario with a virtual agent, whose appearance varied (cartoon-stylized humanoid agent, cartoon-stylized machine-like agent, more realistic humanoid agent, and nonembodied agent [voice only]). After the interaction, participants reported on the evaluation of the agent, usage intention, perceived presence of the agent, bonding toward the agent, and overall evaluation of the interaction. RESULTS: The findings suggested that seniors evaluated the agent more positively (liked the agent more and evaluated it as more realistic, attractive, and sociable) and showed more bonding toward the agent regardless of the appearance than did students. In addition, interaction effects were found. Seniors reported the highest usage intention for the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent, whereas students reported the lowest usage intention for this agent. The same pattern was found for participant bonding with the agent. Seniors showed more bonding when interacting with the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent or voice only agent, whereas students showed the least bonding when interacting with the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent. CONCLUSIONS: In health-related interactions, target group-related differences exist with regard to a virtual assistant's appearance. When elderly individuals are the target group, a humanoid virtual assistant might trigger specific social responses and be evaluated more positively at least in short-term interactions.

Mastering the challenge of balancing self-disclosure and privacy in social media.

Humans have the urge to self-disclose, which is nowadays often satisfied on social media platforms. While the affordances of contemporary social media applications help to indulge this urge, they also pose a significant challenge. People are usually good at leveraging self-disclosure in a way that gratifications are increased and disadvantages are minimized - for example, by avoiding pitfalls such as revealing too intimate information to a large audience. However, when trying to balance self-disclosure gratifications and privacy risks on social media platforms, users are not always able to take rational decisions as suggested in the 'privacy calculus' approach. Instead, recent research indicates that users are prone to biases which hinder rational calculations of advantages and disadvantages - especially caused by social media cues. Users therefore need to be supported in order to master self-disclosure decisions.

Neural Mechanisms for Accepting and Rejecting Artificial Social Partners in the Uncanny Valley.

Artificial agents are becoming prevalent across human life domains. However, the neural mechanisms underlying human responses to these new, artificial social partners remain unclear. The uncanny valley (UV) hypothesis predicts that humans prefer anthropomorphic agents but reject them if they become too humanlike-the so-called UV reaction. Using fMRI, we investigated neural activity when subjects evaluated artificial agents and made decisions about them. Across two experimental tasks, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) encoded an explicit representation of subjects' UV reactions. Specifically, VMPFC signaled the subjective likability of artificial agents as a nonlinear function of humanlikeness, with selective low likability for highly humanlike agents. In exploratory across-subject analyses, these effects explained individual differences in psychophysical evaluations and preference choices. Functionally connected areas encoded critical inputs for these signals: the temporoparietal junction encoded a linear humanlikeness continuum, whereas nonlinear representations of humanlikeness in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) and fusiform gyrus emphasized a human-nonhuman distinction. Following principles of multisensory integration, multiplicative combination of these signals reconstructed VMPFC's valuation function. During decision making, separate signals in VMPFC and DMPFC encoded subjects' decision variable for choices involving humans or artificial agents, respectively. A distinct amygdala signal predicted rejection of artificial agents. Our data suggest that human reactions toward artificial agents are governed by a neural mechanism that generates a selective, nonlinear valuation in response to a specific feature combination (humanlikeness in nonhuman agents). Thus, a basic principle known from sensory coding-neural feature selectivity from linear-nonlinear transformation-may also underlie human responses to artificial social partners.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Would you trust a robot to make decisions for you? Autonomous artificial agents are increasingly entering our lives, but how the human brain responds to these new artificial social partners remains unclear. The uncanny valley (UV) hypothesis-an influential psychological framework-captures the observation that human responses to artificial agents are nonlinear: we like increasingly anthropomorphic artificial agents, but feel uncomfortable if they become too humanlike. Here we investigated neural activity when humans evaluated artificial agents and made personal decisions about them. Our findings suggest a novel neurobiological conceptualization of human responses toward artificial agents: the UV reaction-a selective dislike of highly humanlike agents-is based on nonlinear value-coding in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a key component of the brain's reward system.

The Impacts of Gender and Subject on Experience of Competence and Autonomy in STEM.

In most societies, women are less likely to choose a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related study program than men. This problem persists despite numerous initiatives aimed at fostering the uptake of STEM subjects by women, who represent an underutilized source of talent in a time of great need for STEM professionals. Many reasons for women's avoidance of the path into STEM-related areas have been discussed, including weaker mathematical skills, implicit gender stereotypes or structural deficits in school education. One variable which is presumably at the core of decisions regarding a specific study subject is motivation. We aim to look in greater depth at the basis for motivation by referring to self-determination theory (SDT). Here, we specifically focus on the needs for competence and autonomy which represent pivotal sources of motivation, effective performance and psychological well-being and are assumed to be positively correlated with academic achievement and perseverance. In line with previous SDT research, we assume that self-perceptions during STEM studies contribute to experiences of competence and autonomy and may be responsible for gender disparities. To examine whether and how a sex-specific perception of autonomy and competence influences decisions regarding STEM subjects, we conducted a survey study of Master's students (N = 888; 461 female, 427 male), who were enrolled either in STEM or non-STEM subjects, and asked about students' motivations, perceived competence (e.g., self-efficacy) and autonomy (e.g., volitional decision for a study major). The results revealed several main effects of study major and only a small number of interaction effects of sex and subject. For example, non-STEM students were more likely to enroll due to their stronger interest in their subject, signifying higher autonomy, while STEM students were more likely to select their subject according to their families' wishes. The comparison between female and male STEM students revealed that males perceived more self-efficacy and reported more leadership aspirations while female STEM students have lower perceptions of their own competence, especially regarding perceived future competences.

Great Expectations? Relation of Previous Experiences With Social Robots in Real Life or in the Media and Expectancies Based on Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment.

Social robots, which mostly look and behave like humans, are often perceived as somehow alive and treated similar to humans, despite the fact that they are non-living electronic devices. Based on considerations of the uncertainty reduction theory, the question arises what expectancies regarding social robots people have and what sources they use to achieve these expectancies. To receive an in-depth understanding of people's expectancies regarding social robots and particularly how these expectancies are influenced by people's experiences with real robots but also with fictional robots from media, thirteen semi-structured interviews and a quantitative online study (n = 433) were conducted. Results indicate that people's experiences with robots in the media lead to high expectations regarding the skills of robots, which in turn increase people's general expectancies regarding social robots being part of the society as well as their personal lives. Furthermore, knowledge of negatively perceived fictional robots increases negative expectancies of robots becoming a threat to humans, while technical affinity reduces general robot anxiety.

There's More to Humanity Than Meets the Eye: Differences in Gaze Behavior Toward Women and Gynoid Robots.

Based on evolutionary psychological theories, numerous eye-tracking studies have demonstrated how people visually perceive a potential mate in order to efficiently estimate the person's mate value. Companies are currently working on sexualized robots that provide numerous human-like visual cues which foster the visual resemblance to humans. To gain more elaborated knowledge on how people react to sexualized robots compared with humans, the present study empirically investigated whether heterosexual males transfer deep-rooted evolutionary psychological processes of mate perception to human-like and machine-like sexualized robots. Moreover, we aimed to learn more about the processes of orienting responses toward human and non-human stimuli and about potential predictors of visual attention to robots. Therefore, we conducted an eye-tracking study in which 15 heterosexual men, 12 homosexual men, and 18 heterosexual women were confronted with stimuli showing women, human-like gynoid robots and machine-like gynoid robots. For the sample as a whole, there was no difference in the amount of time spent looking at the human and non-human breasts. However, the results for the heterosexual males supported the assumption that human breasts attract more visual attention than do the breast areas of human-like and machine-like robots. The pelvic region yielded an unexpected gaze pattern, as all participants spent more time looking at the robotic pelvic area than at the human one, with more visual attention paid to the machine-like robots than to the human-like robots. The results of the viewing times toward the head revealed that all participants had a stronger need to gain visual information about the human head in comparison to the robotic heads, underlining the importance of authenticity in terms of emotions and motivations that can only be decoded in humans. Moreover, the study showed that individuals more frequently switched their visual attention toward different body parts of the robots in comparison to the female stimuli, implying that non-human sexualized representations evoked a higher need for visual exploration.

Do a robot's social skills and its objection discourage interactants from switching the robot off?

Building on the notion that people respond to media as if they were real, switching off a robot which exhibits lifelike behavior implies an interesting situation. In an experimental lab study with a 2x2 between-subjects-design (N = 85), people were given the choice to switch off a robot with which they had just interacted. The style of the interaction was either social (mimicking human behavior) or functional (displaying machinelike behavior). Additionally, the robot either voiced an objection against being switched off or it remained silent. Results show that participants rather let the robot stay switched on when the robot objected. After the functional interaction, people evaluated the robot as less likeable, which in turn led to a reduced stress experience after the switching off situation. Furthermore, individuals hesitated longest when they had experienced a functional interaction in combination with an objecting robot. This unexpected result might be due to the fact that the impression people had formed based on the task-focused behavior of the robot conflicted with the emotional nature of the objection.

Beware of Selfies: The Impact of Photo Type on Impression Formation Based on Social Networking Profiles.

Users of social networking sites such as Facebook frequently post self-portraits on their profiles. While research has begun to analyze the motivations for posting such pictures, less is known about how selfies are evaluated by recipients. Although producers of selfies typically aim to create a positive impression, selfies may also be regarded as narcissistic and therefore fail to achieve the intended goal. The aim of this study is to examine the potentially ambivalent reception of selfies compared to photos taken by others based on the Brunswik lens model Brunswik (1956). In a between-subjects online experiment (N = 297), Facebook profile mockups were shown which differed with regard to picture type (selfie vs. photo taken by others), gender of the profile owner (female vs. male), and number of individuals within a picture (single person vs. group). Results revealed that selfies were indeed evaluated more negatively than photos taken by others. Persons in selfies were rated as less trustworthy, less socially attractive, less open to new experiences, more narcissistic and more extroverted than the same persons in photos taken by others. In addition, gender differences were observed in the perception of pictures. Male profile owners were rated as more narcissistic and less trustworthy than female profile owners, but there was no significant interaction effect of type of picture and gender. Moreover, a mediation analysis of presumed motives for posting selfies revealed that negative evaluations of selfie posting individuals were mainly driven by the perceived motivation of impression management. Findings suggest that selfies are likely to be evaluated less positively than producers of selfies might suppose.

The Connection Between Introversion/Extraversion and Social Capital Outcomes of Playing World of Warcraft.

Some studies indicated that playing online games yields a "rich-get-richer effect" and is especially socially beneficial for extraverted players, while other authors argue that online gaming could have compensational effects for introverted players. The current survey study (N = 409) investigates the connection between introversion/extraversion and social capital outcomes of playing the popular role-playing game World of Warcraft and shows that the rich-get-richer and the compensation perspective are not mutually exclusive. Path analysis revealed that extraverted players communicated and self-disclosed more extensively, more often engaged in team play, and, hence, had better chances to build up social capital than introverts. However, at least some of the introverted players used the game for social compensation. These players chose a more social playing style, which increased their chances to acquire social capital. The results demonstrate that the group of introverted players is more heterogeneous than previously thought and that the links between personality aspects and social outcomes of playing are quite complex and rather indirect than direct.

Makeup your mind: The impact of styling on perceived competence and warmth of female leaders.

Women are still underrepresented at the highest management levels. The think-manager-think-male phenomenon suggests that leadership is associated with male rather than female attributes. Although styling has been shown to influence the evaluation of women's leadership abilities, the relevant specific features have been left remarkably unaddressed. In a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 (skirt/pants, with/without jewelry, loose hair/braid, with/without makeup) between-subjects design, 354 participants evaluated a woman in a photograph. Women with makeup, pants, or with jewelry were rated as more competent than women without makeup, with skirts, or without jewelry. A combination of loose hair and no makeup was perceived as warmest, and women with loose hair were more likely to be hired than those with braids. In sum, even subtle changes in styling have a strong impact on how women's leadership abilities are evaluated.

They Came, They Liked, They Commented: Social Influence on Facebook News Channels.

Due to the increasing importance of social networking sites as sources of information, news media organizations have set up Facebook channels in which they publish news stories or links to articles. This research investigated how journalistic texts are perceived in this new context and how reactions of other users change the influence of the main articles. In an online experiment (N=197), a Facebook posting of a reputable news site and the corresponding article were shown. The type of user comments and the number of likes were systematically varied. Negative comments diminished the persuasive influence of the article, while there were no strengthening effects of positive comments. When readers perceived the topic as personally relevant, comments including relevant arguments were more influential than comments with subjective opinions, which can be explained by higher levels of elaboration. However, against expectations of bandwagon perceptions, a high number of likes did not lead to conformity effects, which suggests that exemplifying comments are more influential than statistical user representations. Results are discussed with regard to effects of news media content and the mechanisms of social influence in Web 2.0.

My Friends Right Next to Me: A Laboratory Investigation on Predictors and Consequences of Experiencing Social Closeness on Social Networking Sites.

In the last decade, research has provided a series of insights into how and why the use of social networking sites (SNSs) can be socially and psychologically beneficial for individuals. The present research extends this evidence by focusing on the concept of social closeness as a feeling experienced when using SNSs. In a laboratory setting, participants (N=60) spent 10 minutes on Facebook, and then reported their experiences during this session. Analyses of participants' usage behavior and their experiences revealed that the more time users spent interacting with other users (e.g., commenting on updates), the closer they felt to other people. Interacting with others also predicted users' positive emotional states after Facebook use; this effect may be explained by the perception of social closeness. This study is one of the first to employ momentary measures, offering a further theoretical link between active SNS use and well-being.

Let's Blog About Health! Exploring the Persuasiveness of a Personal HIV Blog Compared to an Institutional HIV Website.

On HIV blogs, people living with HIV share their intimate thoughts and experiences with the world in the form of personal online diaries. While previous research investigated the reasons why patients engage in blogging activities, the effects of such diaries on nondiseased recipients are largely unexplored. Following an experimental design, this study (n = 261) tested whether a one-time exposure to a personal HIV blog has greater persuasive effects on its readers than an institutional HIV website providing the same content. Results showed that although source credibility was perceived as higher when reading the HIV website from an official institution, blog readers had more positive attitudes and a higher self-efficacy toward condom use than website readers. Implications for health message design are discussed.