Yvonne de Kort

Persuasive technology for human well-being: setting the scene

In this short paper we aim to give a brief introduction to persuasive technology, especially as it pertains to human well-being. We discuss a number of current research opportunities in areas of healthcare, environmental conservation, and education. We conclude by highlighting what we regard as the key research challenges that need to be addressed, focusing on context sensing and appropriate feedback, the need for longitudinal user studies, and ethical concerns.

Persuasive Trash Cans Activation of Littering Norms by Design

Two studies tested littering norm activation by trash can design. The first was a scenario study using a 4 (norm type: social injunctive vs. social descriptive vs. personal vs. control) × 2 (activation type: explicit vs. implicit activation) between-group design, with judgments of a litterer as the dependent variable. Explicit norm activation was more effective than implicit activation. A field study subsequently tested the effect of personal norm activation on actual littering behavior, following a 2 (explicit activation: no vs. yes) × 2 (Implicit activation: no vs. yes) between-group design. Here, both explicit activation through a verbal prompt and implicit activation through design had significant effects, reducing the amount of litter by 50%. A post hoc survey revealed significant effects of age and gender on the personal norm against littering. These findings helped explain the absence of norm activation effects in the youngest age group as found in the field study.

Salutogenic Effects of the Environment: Review of Health Protective Effects of Nature and Daylight

Both nature and daylight have been found to positively influence health. These findings were, however, found in two separate research domains. This paper presents an overview of effects found for daylight and nature on health and the health-related concepts stress, mood, and executive functioning and self-regulation. Because of the overlap in effects found and the co-occurrence of both phenomena, the paper points to the need to consider daylight factors when investigating effects of nature and vice versa. Furthermore, the existence of possibly shared underlying mechanisms is discussed and the need to unify the research paradigms and dependent variables used between the two research fields. Last, in view of the beneficial effects of both phenomena on health, our objective is to raise awareness amongst the general public, designers, and health practitioners to use these naturally available phenomena to their full potential.

Effect of a virtual coach on athletes' motivation

The experiment described in this paper addressed two main questions. Can a virtual coach motivate beginning athletes? Can a virtual coach influence beginning athletes exercise behavior? The results show that doing physical exercises is more enjoyable with a virtual coach than without, consequently increasing the intrinsic motivation. Also, the extrinsic motivation is increased by a virtual coach, which is indicated by higher external regulation. Finally, participants biked more in the optimal heart beat zone in the condition with the coach. Longitudinal research is needed to find out the long-term effect of a virtual coach.

Interpersonal connectedness: conceptualization and directions for a measurement instrument

Interpersonal connectedness is the sense of belonging based on the appraisal of having sufficient close social contacts. This feeling is regarded as one of the major outcomes of successful (mediated) social interaction and as such an important construct for HCI. However, the exact nature of this feeling, how to achieve it, and how to assess it remain unexplored to date. In the current paper we start the theoretical conceptualization of this phenomenon by exploring its basic origins in psychological literature and simultaneously formulate requirements for a measurement instrument to be developed in the service of exploring and testing CMC applications, in particular awareness technologies.

Digital Games, the Aftermath: Qualitative Insights into Postgame Experiences

To date, most research on user experiences in digital games has focused on what happens during game play. In this chapter, we conceptualize the phenomenon of postgame experiences, that is, experiences gamers have once they stopped playing. We propose and tackle two types of postgame experiences: short-term postgame experiences that arise immediately after game play and long-term postgame experiences that occur after repeatedly and intensively playing a particular game or game genre. We present two focus group studies that offered qualitative insights into which postgame experiences are at play, to what extent, and under which conditions. The chapter concludes with a discussion and recommendations for future research.

The natural context of wellbeing: Ecological momentary assessment of the influence of nature and daylight on affect and stress for individuals with depression levels varying from none to clinical

&NA; This paper explores how everyday encounters with two natural phenomena ‐natural elements and daylight‐ influence affect and stress levels for people differing in mental health. Nature and daylight exposure both have well‐documented beneficial effects on mental health and affect but to what extent their exposure has beneficial effects in daily life is currently under investigated, as is the question whether lower mental health would make one more, or instead, less responsive. To this end, an ecological momentary assessment protocol was employed for a period of 6 days. Fifty‐nine participants varying in level of depressive symptoms from none to clinical completed momentary assessments of affect, stress, and their physical environment. Results indicate beneficial effects of nature and daylight on affect and some effects on stress and stress‐related outcomes. For nature exposure, but not for daylight exposure, effects were stronger for those in higher need of restoration, stressing the importance of our everyday environment for mental wellbeing. HighlightsDaily exposure to nature and daylight was related with better affective states.Effects of exposure to nature, but not to daylight, were more pronounced for those with affective problems.Only limited beneficial effects were found on stress and stress‐related outcomes.Results stress the importance of exposure to everyday environments on wellbeing.

Runners’ Experience of Implicit Coaching Through Music

In this paper we evaluate a music-based coaching system for runners, the SportsCoach. It measures the runner’s heart rate and increases music tempo when, for an optimal workout, the runner should speed up. Coaching is implicit, since the runner only needs to keep in sync with the music and no explicit instructions are given. We performed 2 experiments to evaluate how this implicit coaching was experienced in the actual context of running. The first experiment investigated how natural it is to keep running in sync with the music when the music tempo changes. We find that although runners are not naturally inclined to do so, a band of 10% below one’s natural tempo is mostly easily followed, especially by dancers. The second experiment evaluated the SportsCoach and contrasted its implicit form of coaching and synchronized music to explicit and absent forms of coaching and fixed tempo music. We find that the SportCoach concept scores well on most aspects, especially because of the synchronicity of music and running tempos.

A Comparison of Methodologies to Investigate the Influence of Light on the Atmosphere of a Space

ABSTRACT The impression of a space depends highly on the illumination in the space, which usually is a combination of electric light and daylight. In the present study, we compared three methodologies to study the influence of electric light and daylight on the perception of the light and the perception of the atmosphere of the space. In two experiments, rating scales were used (with a blocked and a random design, respectively) and in a third experiment the paired-comparison method was used to evaluate the light and the atmosphere of the space. In all experiments, visualizations were used to create differently illuminated spaces. All methodologies showed similar effects of daylight and electric light, which attests to the convergent validity of the research methods. However, the methodologies revealed different effect sizes, rendering the paired-comparison design most sensitive to detect the smallest differences. The results also allowed us to explore the contribution of electric light and daylight in creating an atmosphere. The use of visualizations enabled us to control the luminance of daylight and to disentangle the effects of daylight entering a window from the view from a window. The outcomes show that daylight plays a smaller role than electric light on the perception of light and atmosphere in a space when the luminance of daylight is controlled and there is no view outside.

Thinking of nature: associations with natural versus urban environments and their relation to preference

Abstract People generally prefer natural over urban environments, but little is known about what people think about when they see these environments. The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations with these scenes and their relation with preference. In a series of three studies 336 participants were asked to generate associations with photos. Study One manipulated naturalness of the environment as well as weather type. The data were analysed quantitatively by asking participants to rate the associations on valence, and qualitatively by a post hoc pile-sorting task on the associations. We found that associations with natural and sunny environments were more positive than those with urban and overcast environments. Natural scenes seem to elicit mainly positively valenced associations, whereas associations with urban environments were mixed. Content analyses confirmed these outcomes, indicating that how we experience an environment as well as its’ restorative potential are important for preference formation.