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How context affects behaviour
Lets start with a story…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/orcaman/3735225205/sizes/l/
The Lab
What it looks like
The Lab
What it feels like
The Lab
It changes all three types of context : • the physical context• mental context• and social context
What it feels like
Changing any one of the types of context changes the persons cognitive ability. (Stephen J. and Antonio Roazzi)
Brazilian street kids…
… in the movie “The city of God”
Image credit: http://www.educima.com/foto-trabajo-infantil-vendedor-ambulante-i7486.html
Child selling bananas on the streets of Brazil
Research by Stephen J. and Antonio Roazzi
Image credit: http://www.educima.com/foto-trabajo-infantil-vendedor-ambulante-i7486.html
Child selling bananas on the streets of Brazil
98% accuracy rate of doing maths
Research by Stephen J. and Antonio Roazzi
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave_mcmt/187432802/sizes/l/
What happens when you put these street kids into a formalised test environment, where they solve the same maths problems?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave_mcmt/187432802/sizes/l/
Performance drops significantly!
98%
37%
Street context Formal context
Video game play in the lab vs. real world
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50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 7500%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Number of trials
Accu
racy R
ate
Video game context
Lab task context
Source: “The effects of context on cognition: postcards from Brazil” Stephen J. Ceci and Antonio Roazzi, in “Mind Context” Sternberg R. J. and Wagner K. eds. (1994), page 78
Results
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13923263@N07/1471150324/sizes/l/
4Even numbers are unlucky
Michael Schumacher recently changed his racing number with a team mate.
Michael now has number 3, and his team mate number 4.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chipgriffin/2208361966/sizes/l/
The lucky sock of an American Football player
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“Despite the holes, it sticks around through the Super Bowl. My son tried wearing new ones during the Giants game and things went poorly until he switched back.”
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Superstitions are typically viewed as:
inconsequential creations of irrational minds
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13923263@N07/1471150324/sizes/l/
But it turns out that:
Superstition improves performance through increasing self confidence.
Performance
Paper reference: Keep your fingers crossed!: how superstition improves performance.Damish L, Stoberock B, Musswiler T (2010)
You think differently when speaking a different language
If you learn another language, you learn another way of looking at the world.
Changing the way we talk to people, changes the way we think.
Marketing actions – such as pricing – affect the efficacy of the pills
http://www.flickr.com/photos/erix/142789779/sizes/l/
Weird people
Image credit: http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~learninglab/team.html
People from Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic societies.
Diversity in contexts is just as important as diversity of samples.
Stephen J Ceci, Dan M. Kahan, and Donald Braman
The brain does not exist in a vacuum.It operates in the context of the real world.
Jonah Lehrer
PRYSVL Modelof person-context interaction
Robert J. Sternberg
PERSON(who)
ROLES(what)
SITUATION(where, when)
VALUES(why)
LUCK (whoops!)
Abilities
Knowledge
Styles
Personality
Motivations
Leader vs. Followers
Entrepreneur vs. Manager
Thinking vs. Doing
Staff vs. Line
High stress vs. Low stress
Close Supervision vs. Far Supervision
Short term goals vs. long term goals
Physical comfort vs. physical discomfort
People vs. Productivity
Process vs. Product
Conformity vs. Independence
Individualism vs. Group Orientation
Altruism vs. Self Interest
Innovation vs. Stability
Appearance vs. Reality
Status variables
Event variables
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannyboyster/835620369/
Human decision making is like a pair of scissors: one blade is the brain, while the other blade is a specific environment in which the brain operates.
Herb SimonNobel prize winning psychologist
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannyboyster/835620369/
Human behaviour is like a pair of scissors: one blade is the brain, while the other blade is a specific environment in which the brain operates.
Herb SimonNobel prize winning psychologist
If you want to understand the function of scissors, then you have to look at both blades simultaneously.
For that end, we have to venture out of the lab and into the real world.
Jonah Lehrer
Send your researcher out there to mix with the wild, and find out how they use your design in their real environment.
There are a variety of methods you can use to that end:
EthnographyContextual EnquiryRemote EthnographyRemote online user research
Send your researcher out there to mix with the wild, and find out how they use your design in their real environment.
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Thank you.
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James PageDirector@jamespage
Sabrina MachDirector@sabrinamach
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