Geoff Kaufman

A psychologically “embedded” approach to designing games for prosocial causes

Prosocial games often utilize a direct, explicit approach to engage players with serious real-life scenarios and present information about key societal issues. This approach, however, may limit a game’s persuasive impact and ability to produce beneficial outcomes, particularly when the apparent aims of the game trigger players’ psychological defenses or reduce players’ potential engagement with – and enjoyment of – the game experience. In contrast, the “Embedded Design” approach that we introduce here offers effective, evidence-based strategies for more stealthily or covertly delivering persuasive content in a game in a fashion that circumvents players’ psychological defenses and triggers a more receptive mindset. This paper provides an in-depth exploration of two key Embedded Design strategies: (1) intermixing: combining “on-topic” and “off-topic” game content in order to make the focal message or theme less obvious and more accessible and (2) obfuscating: using game genres or framing devices that direct players’ attention or expectations away from the game’s true aims. To illustrate the implementation and effectiveness of these strategies, we detail the design of two games that utilize a number of these techniques to reduce stereotypes and biases and present the methods and results of a set of empirical studies testing the prosocial impact of these games. In addition, we introduce a number of other Embedded Design strategies that have emerged in our work and discuss the most viable contexts for the use of this design approach.

Updating a Classic: A New Generation of Vignette Experiments Involving Iterative Decision Making:

Although the vignette method is widely used in psychology, it is often implemented without the key feature of iterative decision making that can affect the eventual outcome of the vignettes. This Tutorial provides an explanation of how to use Twine, an interactive narrative platform, to create vignettes with iterative decision making. Twine is an especially useful tool for experiments involving branching narratives, spatial navigation, and resource allocation. We provide code for creating exemplar experiments in social and cognitive psychology, as well as behavioral economics, and explain how to integrate Twine projects with survey-management platforms, such as Qualtrics. After following this Tutorial, researchers will be able to use Twine in their experiments to update the classic vignette method by incorporating iterative decision-making tasks.

The Effect of Gender on Attributions for Women’s Anxiety and Doubt in a Science Narrative

Although the effect of biases and stereotype threat on women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is well documented, less is known about how men and women attribute an undergraduate woman’s anxieties in a STEM class. We examined how undergraduate men and women perceive a woman facing emotional struggles in a physics class (Study 1, N = 309; Study 2, N = 271) and having her contributions ignored in an environmental science class (Study 3, N = 344) in three studies and an internal meta-analysis. Across the studies and meta-analysis, we found gender differences in reactions to the stories. Men were less likely than women to attribute the student’s anxiety to bias-related factors, such as awareness of stereotypes or instructor treatment, and more likely than women to attribute the anxiety to the student’s lack of preparation. Women were more likely to view the narratives as reflecting real-life experiences of women in STEM. The results indicate a lack of awareness, on the part of undergraduate men, of the difficulties faced by women in STEM classes. Based on the current findings, educators and researchers should consider the role that gender plays in how women’s emotional responses in STEM contexts are interpreted. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684318754528

Supporting Social Interactions with an Expressive Heart Rate Sharing Application

The present work explores the social dynamics of expressive biosignals: leveraging wearable technologies to introduce sensed physiological data as a means of clarifying the emotional or psychological processes underlying our subjective experiences. We developed an Android application that linked to a wearable heart rate sensor and allowed for the direct sharing and real-time broadcasting of users’ heart rate via text messaging. We deployed this application in a two-week field study to investigate the contextual triggers, perceptions, and consequences of users’ sharing behaviors. The study (N=13) utilized a combination of Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) and qualitative interviews to discover the situations in which users were more or less likely to share their heart rate with contacts, and the subsequent interactions that occurred after sharing. The results revealed that participants used heart rate sharing as a means to express emotions and provide daily updates, as well as simply a novel and playful form of communication. They reported a variety of communicative consequences of their sharing as well as specific logistical and psychological barriers to sharing. The implications of these results for the design of expressive biosignal sharing systems for supporting positive social interactions are discussed.

Can Biosignals be Expressive?: How Visualizations Affect Impression Formation from Shared Brain Activity

We are exploring the concept of expressive biosignals: leveraging wearable technologies to introduce sensed physiological data as cues for social perception. Biosignals can help us achieve a deeper understanding of each other by revealing or clarifying the psychological processes that underlie our subjective experience. We conducted an exploratory study investigating expressive biosignals, comparing the influence of a variety of brain activity visualizations on impression formation. Results revealed that while participants readily infer emotional and cognitive states from visualized brain activity, the ambiguity of the data can lead to diverse perceptions and interpretations. Participants also expressed concerns that the observation of another individuals data during interaction might be invasive or distracting. We present a set of design considerations addressing issues of interpretability, integration, and privacy of biosignals in interpersonal contexts.

Treehouse Dreams: A Game-Based Method for Eliciting Interview Data from Children

Treehouse Dreams is a card game that can simultaneously function as an ice breaker for children engaged in group activities, and as a research tool for interviewing children. The game, which asks players to collectively imagine a fantasy treehouse, incorporates game design techniques that encourage openness and sharing. The game is also easily customizable for a variety of research agendas. We describe a case study across two different lab environments, in which Treehouse Dreams was effectively used both to introduce young participants to the study environment and to draw out relevant information for research.