Everyday Media

Everyday Media

Duration 06/2023 - 05/2026

Different individuals favor different notions of fairness. This PhD project therefore delves into how egocentric biases affect judgments of algorithmic fairness, an issue that often goes unnoticed in the discussion of AI discrimination cases. By understanding the influence of biases on fairness assessments, this project offers insights into improving AI decision-making in diverse domains.

Everyday Media

Duration 05/2018 - 12/2024

Most news on social media are only skimmed and not read attentively. However, regular skimming of such messages is by no means useless, but can help to develop so-called ambient awareness, an awareness of who is doing what and who knows what in the network. Based on preliminary work from the ERC project ReDeftie, the underlying processes and effects will be further investigated.

Everyday Media

Duration 10/2020 - 09/2023

More than half a billion people worldwide use professional social online networks such as LinkedIn. The objective of this DFG-funded project is to learn more about the positive effects social networking use provides for knowledge workers. 

Everyday Media

Duration 07/2020 - 06/2024

With the rise of artificial intelligence, organizations are increasingly engaging with consumers through automated systems. This project explores how users perceive interactions with text-based dialogue systems, or "chatbots," which use natural language to communicate. Commonly employed in customer service and product advice via websites or messaging platforms, chatbots raise key questions about whether users prefer human agents over automated systems, and how human-like characteristics of chatbots—both verbal and non-verbal—affect user engagement and satisfaction. To investigate these questions, experimental studies and a meta-analysis were conducted. The experimental findings suggest that while people generally prefer human agents for tasks like study advice, interactions with chatbots were perceived as more enjoyable. Verbal cues that mimic human communication increased the chatbot’s perceived likeability, warmth, and overall satisfaction with the service. However, human-like free-text interactions with chatbots were less appreciated due to perceived issues with user-friendliness. Chatbots offer significant benefits to both consumers and companies by automating tasks, increasing productivity and boosting customer loyalty. They provide users with round-the-clock access to businesses. However, to be effective and accepted, chatbots need to be carefully developed to ensure they provide real value. The results of this project provide valuable insights to improve the development, design and strategic implementation of chatbots in organizations.

Everyday Media

Duration 04/2018 - open

The video-sharing platform YouTube is meanwhile the 2nd largest search engine. “How to…” videos can be found for almost any topic – ranging from make-up tips over solutions for software problems to reparing washing machines. These videos can provide an easy and cheap access to learning opportunities for everybody. How frequently are they used for informal learning and which role does the instructor play?

Everyday Media

Duration 04/2021 - 09/2022

Users of and other agents in social media (e.g., firms, institutions, and friends) play an increasingly important role as sources of information in digital societies. This information may include knowledge that leads to moral and normative decisions. In the scope of this present project, it will be explored how social media information may affect users‘ moral foundations and consequently their ethical decision-making. Another focus is to examine the role different psychological processes play in fostering or interfering with these potential relations between moral foundations and ethical decision-making.

Everyday Media

Duration 06/2023 - 05/2026

Scientific discourse is vital to make informed decisions about pressing societal issues. Especially in times of crisis, risks arise from over-simplification, generalization, and instrumentalization of scientific knowledge. The „NewOrder“ project will examine the changing knowledge order of the digital society, in particular, motivated through the increasingly controversial discourse about science in online news and social media.

Everyday Media

Duration 03/2020 - 11/2024

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has drastically changed the lives of many people, causing uncertainty, stress and anxiety. This project investigates how people use social media, podcasts, news and entertainment to cope with these feelings. Additionally, we focus on how media use is related to successful coping and how media use is related to knowledge and preventive behavior.

Everyday Media

Duration 10/2022 - open

This PhD project studies the behaviors of social bots, i.e., social media accounts controlled by software or algorithms rather than humans, in online science communication, especially their interactions with human accounts, and the effect of these behaviors: what kind of content are social bots more likely to (re-)post? How and to what extent does social bot activity influence the public perception of science? And how could human users detect social bots to avoid their influence?

Everyday Media

Duration 06/2022 - open

The utilization of AI-powered voice assistants (VAs) has recently become more prevalent as an emerging digital technology that aids users in their daily activities, leading also to the emergence of various forms of communication with users beyond simple commands. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how people perceive and relate to disembodied, intelligent and voice-assisted technologies in communication. Given that a significant part of communication with these virtual actors revolves around information, factors such as the credibility and perceived intelligence of the source have become more important.

Everyday Media

Duration 06/2023 - 05/2026

High mobility and frequent moves pose a challenge for friendships. How do groups of friends who live in different places stay connected? Existing media such as WhatsApp or Zoom provide limited opportunities to feel close to one's own friends, while still requiring the users' attention. In the VREUNDE project, hybrid tools are to be created with which groups of friends can perform their social activities even over distance and thus create a feeling of connectedness as a group.

Everyday Media

Duration 07/2019 - 04/2022

AI-based voice assistants have spread rapidly and are playing an increasingly important role in the everyday lives of users. Owners can access a wide range of applications via voice. The assistants are also used for information search and thus provide an alternative to conventional screen-based search engines. The project is dedicated to the question of how voice assistants affect the search for and the evaluation of information.

Everyday Media

Duration 01/2021 - 11/2024

With the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many meetings in personal, educational, and professional contexts have been moved to the virtual realm. In a series of experiments and survey studies, this project aims at identifying and better understanding both effects and success factors of virtual meetings. One primary focus of the investigations is individual camera use and its positive and negative effects.

Everyday Media

Duration 03/2018 - 08/2024

Crises are frequent in sport, be they doping or poor performance. How do such crises influence confidence in athletes and ultimately the demand for sporting events? Most professional athletes and teams now have profiles on social media such as Facebook or Instagram. Do these more direct interactions with athletes (comments, likes) lead to a stronger bond that can mitigate the negative effects of a crisis?

Everyday Media

Duration 01/2023 - open

Since the introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022, the use of artificial intelligence (AI), especially AI-based chatbots, has become accessible to many people. This project investigates how people use ChatGPT and comparable chatbots for knowledge search and as a creativity tool, both in professional and private settings. The studies thus contribute to the practice fields knowledge work with digital media and internet use. Many search engine providers integrate AI-based chatbots, which are based on so-called large language models (LLMs), into their services, meaning that they are also used by many for knowledge processes such as information searches. However, the adoption of AI-generated content harbors risks, as the technology also presents incorrect information very confidently. The current research project aims to better understand the opportunities and risks of using LLM-based chatbots in everyday professional and private life. Two initial experiments show that the way in which information is presented by ChatGPT or comparable chatbots influences the credibility assessment. The same information is perceived as more credible when it is presented as a dialog - whether typed with ChatGPT or spoken by a voice assistant such as Alexa - than when it is presented as static text. This type of presentation also makes it more difficult to identify incorrect information. In survey studies with representative samples and a longitudinal study with knowledge workers, we also investigate how people use LLM-based chatbots for different tasks, to what extent this is associated with information benefits and higher creativity, and which factors predict successful use.

Everyday Media

Duration 01/2024 - 12/2024

The world is currently facing a global mental health crisis, with many individuals struggling and insufficient access to professional support. In this context, conversational agents (CAs) have emerged as a promising technological solution. However, there is limited understanding of the psychological processes that drive effective interactions with CAs. This project investigated the role of narrative transportation and user-CA relationships in app engagement and stress outcomes through a survey of users of a mental health app that uses a CA as a mentor to guide users through story- and chat-based interactions. The project contributes to the field by highlighting how narrative engagement and emotional connections with CAs can enhance user experience and app effectiveness.

Everyday Media

Duration 08/2024 - 04/2026

Our interdisciplinary longitudinal study investigates the evolving dynamics of human-AI interaction over six waves spanning one year. By examining individual, behavioral, and task-related variables, the project aims to uncover how users' trust in, perceptions of, self-efficacy, and willingness to engage with AI systems develop and interrelate over time. The insights gained from this research are essential for better understanding human-machine interaction, a critical foundation for fostering effective collaboration between users and AI systems. This knowledge will inform user-centered AI design and guide the ethical integration of these technologies into various aspects of everyday life.