Towards Cyberpsychology

Drawing on research in the social sciences, communications, and other fields, this book wants to analyze how the online environment is influencing the experience of psychology. However, understanding how the Internet is changing our everyday experience presents a substantial challenge for the psychologists. Now, research in this area is still sparse and limited in both the number and scope of studies: actual research, especially studies with strict methodologies, is only just beginning. The contributions in this book are among the first scientific attempts to take a serious look at various aspects of Internet-related psychology. However, we need not start from scratch. Psychology has a broad knowledge about the factors that affect human behaviour in other setting. So, the papers collected for this book are descriptive and practical-oriented in nature.

An Introduction to Cyberpsychology is the first book to provide a student-oriented introduction to this rapidly growing and increasingly studied topic. It is designed to encourage students to critically evaluate the psychology of online interactions, and to develop appropriate research methodologies to complete their own work in this field. The book is comprised of four main sections: An overview of cyberpsychology and online research methodologies Social psychology in an online context The practical applications of cyberpsychology The psychological aspects of other technologies. Each chapter includes: Explanations of key terms and a glossary to facilitate understanding Content summaries to aid student learning Activity boxes, discussion questions and recommended reading to guide further study. Further resources for students and instructors are available on the book’s companion website, including audio and video links, essay questions, a multiple-choice test bank, and PowerPoint lecture slides. Uniquely combining a survey of the field with a focus on the applied areas of psychology, the book is designed to be a core text for undergraduate modules in cyberpsychology and the psychology of the internet, and a primer for students of postgraduate programs in cyberpsychology.

CYBERPSYCHOLOGY An important new textbook for an exciting area of contemporary psychological study and research??? The field of cyberpsychology examines the psychology of interactions between individuals, societies and digital technologies. This engaging and accessible textbook offers a complete introduction to the subject. The authors outline key theories, provide critical assessments, identify areas in need of further research, and discuss ways to use digital technologies as a research tool. They also include a wealth of real life examples, activities and discussion questions for students at undergraduate and graduate levels. Cyberpsychology provides up-to-date coverage of a wide range of topics relating to online behaviour, and considers the potential impact of these interactions offline: online identity online dating and relationships pornography cyberbullying children???s use of the Internet online games and gambling deception online crime

For a wide variety of reasons, colleges and universities have increased their online course offerings. These programs, including both formal degree programs as well as non-credit and leisure learning options, rely on students to engage with their faculty members as well as other learners to maximize their class experiences. Virtual learning, however, can be a difficult space to create community and resulted in the need to explore how community and culture can be constructed in the virtual, tech-fed world. The model presented here consists of five key elements that program administrators, instructional designers, and teaching faculty must all take into consideration as they develop their courses.

Digital technologies are deeply embedded in everyday life with opportunities for information access and perpetual social contact now mediating most of our activities and relationships. This book expands the lens of Cyberpsychology to consider how digital experiences play out across the various stages of people’s lives. Most psychological research has focused on whether human-technology interactions are a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ thing for humanity. This book offers a distinctive approach to the emergent area of Cyberpsychology, moving beyond these binary dilemmas and considering how popular technologies have come to frame human experience and relationships. In particular the authors explore the role of significant life stages in defining the evolving purpose of digital technologies. They discuss how people’s symbiotic relationship with digital technologies has started to redefine our childhoods, how we experience ourselves, how we make friends, our experience of being alone, how we have sex and form romantic relationships, our capacity for being antisocial as well as the experience of growing older and dying. This interdisciplinary book will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners across psychology, digital technology and media studies as well as anyone interested in how technology influences our behaviour.

Human interaction with technology is constantly evolving, with rapid developments in online interaction, gaming, and artificial intelligence all impacting upon and altering our behaviour. The speed of this change has led to an urgent need for a new field of study, cyberpsychology, in order to investigate the ways in which human behaviour is affected by the addition of technology, and the benefits and risks thereof. Cyberpsychology and Society does not offer a description of or justification for the field of study, but is rather a presentation of some of the most recent research in many key sub-topics within the area. Based on the work being done in the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in Dublin, Ireland, Cyberpsychology and Society brings together a unique collection of writings by contributors on cyberpsychology in relation to health, education, gaming, consumer behaviour, and social change in an online world. The book focuses on the impact of societies’ increasing interaction with technology, and is a presentation of some of the most recent research in the area. Describing cutting-edge research while employing a tone which is accessible to both students and academic staff, this book is an invaluable resource for students, researchers and academics of cyberpsychology and related areas.

What are the best practices for leading a workforce in which human employees have merged cognitively and physically with electronic information systems and work alongside social robots, artificial life-forms, and self-aware networks that are ‘colleagues’ rather than simply ‘tools’? How does one manage organizational structures and activities that span actual and virtual worlds? How are the forces of technological posthumanization transforming the theory and practice of management? This volume explores the reality that an organization’s workers, managers, customers, and other stakeholders increasingly comprise a complex network of human agents, artificial agents, and hybrid human-synthetic entities. The first part of the book develops the theoretical foundations of an emerging ‘organizational posthumanism’ and presents frameworks for understanding and managing the evolving workplace relationship between human and synthetic beings. Other chapters investigate topics such as the likelihood that social robots might utilize charismatic authority to lead human workers; potential roles of AIs as managers of cross-cultural virtual teams; the ethics and legality of entrusting organizational decision-making to spatially diffuse robots that have no discernible physical form; quantitative approaches to comparing managerial capabilities of human and artificial agents; the creation of artificial life-forms that function as autonomous enterprises competing against human businesses; neural implants as gateways that allow human users to participate in new forms of organizational life; and the implications of advanced neuroprosthetics for information security and business model design. As the first comprehensive application of posthumanist methodologies to management, this volume will interest management scholars and management practitioners who must understand and guide the forces of technologization that are rapidly reshaping organizations’ form, dynamics, and societal roles.

Cyberpsychology is an emerging area of psychological study that aims to understand and explain all facets of online behaviour. This book brings together overviews from a number of leading authorities in the field, to suggest how academic theory and research can be applied to a variety of online behaviours. Both positive and negative behaviours are considered, including topics as diverse as parenting the online child, age-related internet usage and cultural considerations in online interactions. Psychological research can no longer view online and offline worlds as different entities, but must consider online behaviours as equally distinct as offline activities. This is especially apparent when looking at online dating, the role that social networks play in organisations and online consumer behaviours, and in a consideration of the role that psychological research plays in underpinning the multi-billion pound gaming industry. Focusing on these personal applications of the Internet, insight is also offered into the role that theory and research plays in training military personnel as well as the use of psychometric testing to select and retain employees.