Human Behavior in the Virtual Environments

Alexander VoiskounskyFaculty of Arts, Institute of

Information Studies & Librarianship,Charles U, PragueDecember 8, 2008

Alexander Voiskounsky:

Dept. of Psychology, Moscow State

University after M.V. Lomonosov8/5 Mokhovaya st.,Moscow 103009 Russia

E-mail: vaemsu@gmail.com

Virtual Environments are usually called Cyberspace

“On a deep psychological level, people often experience their computers… as an extension of their minds & personalities – a ‘space’ that reflects their tastes, attitudes, and interests”

Archetypically, we tend to experience cyberspace as a psychologically human space. Its visual & auditory context resonates with our experience of the ‘real’ world; compared to books or media, cyberspace is much more interactive; it is a social space filled with other people.

Source: A.Barak & J.Suler, in: PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF CYBERSPACE, Cambridge U Press, 2008, 1-9

Internet development in Russia1980s – National Center of Automatic Exchange of Information (Acad. of Sciences): limited access of selected representatives of several organizations (including the MSU), with assisting operators.Late 1980’ – enthusiastic Unix programmers worked on computer telecommunications.August 1990 – connection to fuug.fi (Helsinki).19 Sept. 1990 – registration of the domain .su 7 April 1994 – registration of the domain .ru

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE INTERNET RESEARCH IN RUSSIA IS ASSOCIATED WITH VYGOTSKY

Vygotsky emphasized that the higher mental processes (including cognition) are of social origin, their development is based on joint actions (especially within the zone of proximal development, in the child-adult dyad), on interpersonal communication, and presumably on mediated forms of behavior.

Theoretical background (continued) 

Investigation of mediated forms of behavior is traditional for the Vygotskian approach in (Russian) psychology.

The main mediating sources are, according to Vygotsky, physical objects, signs and semiotic systems. Having been internalized (the term common both for J.Piaget and L.Vygotsky), the signs and the methods of handling the material objects form the higher psychological processes.

Thus, the individual psychic activity is actually a transformed joint (usually child-adult) activity. As a result, external and internal (mental) activities have the same origin and the same structure, as it is stressed by A.N.Leontiev and by many other Vygotsky’s followers.

Theoretical background (continued)

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) originate from highly developed semiotic (sign) systems that mediate and remediate[1] almost every human practical or theoretical activity. Thus research in the field is apt to the paradigm of Vygotskian approach in psychology. The Internet and the WWW are probably the leading social technologies within the ICT field. Research of the Internet/WWW usage patterns is “traditional” within the Vygotskian approach in the Russian psychology.  [1] For remediation, see: Cole, M. (1996). Cultural Psychology: Once and Future Discipline. Cambridge, MA and London: the Belknap Press of Harvard U Press.

Theoretical background (continued)

Computers and the ICT, being primarily semiotic instruments, are externalized tools, and mediate and/or remediate human psychic activity.

Unlike the developmental psychology approach, externalization and not internalization is of primary interest for anyone doing research of the Internet-mediated forms of cognitive, communicative, or entertaining activities. Progress in technologies means that we should pay much more interest in processes of externalization.

CURRENT STATUS OF THE CYBERPSYCHOLOGICAL

RESEARCH IN RUSSIA

The Russian segment of the Internet audience includes residents of diverse countries – post-Soviets & born abroad. In the 20th century there were at least four periods of massive migration from Russia.SpyLog (www.spylog.ru) tracker: approximately 45-50% of navigations are made from outside Russia. For example, Global Internet Statistics (by Language) estimates the number of Americans who regularly access the Russian segment of the Internet is over 100,000. The Russian segment includes: Little Russia in San Antonio, Texas (http://mars.uthsca.edu/Russian), as well as other US/Israeli/Ukrainian/Australian sites, blogs, etc.

Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet Community (aka RuNet):

Several ethnic_language_segments, presented on the Internet, may be called ‘points of attraction’. These are languages other than English.

The Russian segment of the Internet is a ‘PoA’.

Method: discussions (F2F or mediated, but not formal interviews) with non-Russian residents (N=67), held between 1994 and 2001.

Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet community: cont’d1. Lack/shortage of attractive web content in ethnic

languages 2. Poor command of official languages of post-Soviet

states by ethnic Russians, residing outside Russia3. Poor literacy skills in their mother-tongues of non-

Russians in the post-Soviet states: they got formal education in Russian.

4. Use of Arabic or Latin alphabets in some post-Soviet states, instead of a modified Cyrillics. A peculiar sociolinguistic situation: different generations speaking the same language might soon have no common written language.

5. Less populated countries: few forums, sites, blogs in ethnic languages; more diverse views and more valuable information may be found abroad. Residents of post-Soviet states are better in Russian than in English.

Reasons for Joining the Russian Internet community: cont’d

6. Nostalgia towards older times: chatting from abroad to people someone used to know earlier, or to new chatters; share hobbies

7. Media in some post-Soviet states are even less independent compared to the Russian media: residents of these countries get access to less censured news

8. Politically-minded people keep group discussions; they blame the communist regime, and/or the modern regimes

9. Creative people from outside Russia present their artworks to a wider audience compared to what is available in their states

10. Russian Internet experts are often advanced. Non-Russians subscribe to the Russian language newsgroups, surf reviews published on Russian web-sites, discuss technical issues.

11. Speakers of Russian residing outside the former USSR feel themselves ‘missionaries’: consult in web-related issues, provide information (folk or avant-garde music, etc.).

Actual Research Areas in ‘Social’ Sciences

PhilosophyPolitical ScienceEducationCulture & Gender ResearchLinguistics, Literary & Art CriticsSociologyApplied StatisticsEconomicsPsychology

Culture and Gender ResearchResearch on web cultures in post-Soviet & post-communist statesDigital divide & inequality of access to the WebRole of non-residents in the Russian web cultureWeb-related shift in culture identitiesGender identities on the webGender attitudes toward the Internet useGender differences in the web use, etc.

Psychology (projects)Identity transformationsInternet addiction Gender issues on the Internet Attitudes towards hacking, and motivation of hackers Flow in online gaming (comparative study: samples of Russian, French, US & Chinese gamers)IT-GiftednessPsychology of Cyberethics

Cyberpsychology is neighbouring:

1.Clinical psychology, with themes:• Internet addiction, Internet abuse, etc.• Internet/computer anxiety• Treatment of stresses, PTSD, phobias

using virtual reality systems• Treatment & rehabilitation of diseases

(autism, post-stroke, ADHD, etc.)

Cyberpsychology is neighbouring:

2. Social psychology, with themes• New distant communities (incl. social

networks): structure, leadership, rituals• GroupThink & quality of discussions• Roles of minorities in new communities• Polylogues as distinct from dialogues• Psychological experiments in virtual

communities, etc.

Cyberpsychology is neighbouring:3. Cognitive psychology, themes:• Use of “external” memory• Attention span when look at monitor• Recognition of objects, including correct

eye-tracking• Decision making in groups• Information retrieval using browsers• Construction of hypertexts• Interfaces for disabled, etc.

Cyberpsychology is neighbouring:4. Educational psychology, with themes• Psychology of distant education• Multimedia learning/teaching programs• Individual vs. group education• Education in groups of different-age

students• Etc.

Cyberpsychology is neighbouring:5. Developmental psychology, themes• Age (including both early & old age)

specifics in the usage on Internet• Educational web-applications• Talent & giftedness in computer use• Etc.

Cyberpsychology is neighbouring:6. Cross-cultural psychology7. Human-computer interaction8. Psychophysics 9. Differential and personality

psychology10. Forensic psychology11. Sport psychology12. Media psychology13. Gender psychology, etc.

Positive psychology

The concept of FLOW, introduced by

Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi

(American, first in Chicago, now in California; originally

Hungarian)

Flow Experience

Flow experience

Full satisfaction

High level of control

Objectives become

clear

Loss of self-conscio-usness

Balance between skill and

task

Loss of sense of time

Worth of doing for its

own sake

Concent-ration

on the task

Csikszentmihalyi: flow may be expected when and if the available skills balance (tightly match) the task challenges

a person chooses, provided that both the challenges and tasks

are close to the person’s utmost. Flow is placed at the cutting edge of person's skills, and it

is a moving target. An increase of acquired skills leads to an

appropriate extension of challenges, in case the precise matching and the concomitant enjoyment has to

be saved; reciprocally, any choice of greater challenges

demands an update of the available skills.

Main antecedent of flow – precise matching between skills and challenges

Psychology Projects (cont’d)The next slide will be illustrative of the development of computer hackers’ intrinsic motivation, namely the flow motivation.

It is illustrated as a balance/counterbalance of the available skills & of task challenges.

Inexperienced hackerLow challenges

Low skillsChallenges match skills

Experienced hackerHigh challenges

High skillsChallenges match skills

SKILLS

CHALLENGES

Wannabeehacker

High challengesLow skills

no matching

FLOWRENOVATION

Averagely experiencedhacker

average challengesaverage skills

Challenges match skills

Occasional hackerLow challenges

High skillsno matching

FLOW CRISIS

FLOW CRISIS

FLOWRENOVATION

Cyberethics Meets Developmental Psychology

Open-ended questions on moral judgments show:Adolescents/kids often fail to Adolescents/kids often fail to

transfer well-known moral norms transfer well-known moral norms to less known, e.g. to less known, e.g. virtualvirtual environments.environments.

In the Cyberspace they lack ‘‘ethical ethical sensitivity’sensitivity’, that is, the ability to distinguish moral/immoral behavior.

What is needed, world-wide:research of Web-related moral views research of Web-related moral views

& judgments of children/adolescents;& judgments of children/adolescents; education program to be worked out education program to be worked out

& taught, to update Web-related & taught, to update Web-related moral values of K-12 students;moral values of K-12 students;

teach globe-wide, *every* language: teach globe-wide, *every* language: Cyberspace is global indeed.Cyberspace is global indeed.

ReferencesVoiskounsky A. Current problems of moral research and education in the IT environment. Human Perspectives in the Internet Society: Culture, Psychology and Gender. K.Morgan, C.A.Brebbia, J.Sanchez, A.Voiskounsky (eds.). WIT Press: Southampton, Boston, 2004, pp. 33-41.Voiskounsky A.E. Virtual Environments: the need of advanced moral education. Ethics of New Information Technology. Proceedings of the 6th Internationаl Conference of Computer Ethics: Philosophical Enquiry (CEPE2005). Ed. by Ph. Brey, F. Grodzinsky, L. Introna. Enshede, the Netherlands: CTIT Publ., 2005, pp. 389-395.

References (cont’d)Babaeva J.D., Voiskounsky A.E. (2002). IT-Giftedness in Children and Adolescents. Educational Technology & Society, vol. 5(1), 154-162. Voiskounsky A.E., Smyslova O.V. (2003). Flow-Based Model of Computer Hackers’ Motivation. CyberPsychology & Behavior, Vol. 6, № 3, 171-180.Voiskounsky A., Smyslova O. (2003). Flow in computer hacking: A model. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, v. 2713.Springer, 176-186.

References (cont’d)Voiskounsky A.E. (2008). Flow Experience in Cyberspace: Current Studies and Perspectives. Psychological Aspects of Cyberspace: Theory, Research, Applications. (Ed. A. Barak). N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 70-101.VOISKOUNSKY A.E. (2008). CYBERPSYCHOLOGY AND COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION IN RUSSIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION, V. 1, № 1, 78-94.

References (cont’d)Arestova, O., Babanin, L., Voiskounsky, A. (1999). Psychological Research of Computer-Mediated Communication in Russia. Behaviour and Information Technology, 18 (2), 141-147.Voiskounsky A. (1998). Investigation of Relcom Network Users. F.Sudweeks et al. (eds.). Network and Netplay: Virtual Groups on the Internet. AAAI Press/The MIT Press, 113-126.Voiskounsky A.E., Babaeva J.D., Smyslova O.V. (2000). Attitudes towards computer hacking in Russia. Cybercrime: Law Enforcement, Security and Surveillance in the Information Age. Ed. by D.Thomas & B.Loader. Routledge, 56-84.

THE END(for today)