"Psyosphere": A GPS Data-Analysing Tool for the Behavioural Sciences.

Positioning technologies, such as GPS are widespread in society but are used only sparingly in behavioural science research, e.g., because processing positioning technology data can be cumbersome. The current work attempts to unlock positioning technology potential for behavioural science studies by developing and testing a research tool to analyse GPS tracks. This tool-psyosphere-is published as open-source software, and aims to extract behaviours from GPSs data that are more germane to behavioural research. Two field experiments were conducted to test application of the research tool. During these experiments, participants played a smuggling game, thereby either smuggling tokens representing illicit material past border guards or not. Results suggested that participants varied widely in variables, such as course and speed variability and distance from team members in response to the presence of border guards. Subsequent analyses showed that some of these GPS-derived behavioural variables could be linked to self-reported mental states, such as fear. Although more work needs to be done, the current study demonstrates that psyosphere may enable researchers to conduct behavioural experiments with positioning technology, outside of a laboratory setting.

Citizen participation in the police domain: The role of citizens' attitude and morality.

Although there is a large potential of citizen capital in fighting crime and creating safer neighborhoods, in reality, only a small fraction of citizens is actively participating. This study examines the relationship between different types of actual participation behavior in the police domain from a citizen's stance and 3 different but interconnected psychological drivers: the attitude toward citizen participation, moral values, and moral emotions. A total of 217 Dutch citizens filled out an online questionnaire, assessing these drivers and the actual participatory actions they engaged in over the past year. The results show that 4 broad categories of participation behavior can be distinguished: social control (e.g., correcting others regarding their behavior); responsive participation (e.g., calling the police); collaborative participation (e.g., meeting with a police officer); and detection (e.g., joining a neighborhood watch). As expected, moral values had an indirect influence on participation via attitude and moral emotions. The attitude toward citizen participation was positively related to all four types of reported behavior, while the influence of moral emotions only related to social control and responsive behavior. These results can be used in the design and testing of interventions to stimulate citizen participation.

Determinants of Seeking and Avoiding Risk-Related Information in Times of Crisis.

This research is designed to provide insight into the psychological (e.g., threat appraisal or coping appraisal) and other determinants (e.g., information quality judgments or demographics) of risk information seeking or avoidance in times of an acute risk, as part of the process of increasing public resilience through adherence to risk mitigating advice. Data were collected via telephone interviews. A specialized agency interviewed 1,000 Dutch citizens, randomly confronted with one of eight fictitious, but realistic, acute risk and emergency situations. Results indicate that information seeking in an acute situation is anticipated by a less elaborate set of predictors (age and risk perception) than information seeking in a nonacute situation (age and risk perception, as well as educational level and social norm). Although risk perception is a predictor for risk information seeking, its predictive value for acute-risk-related behavior, as one might have assumed based on theories such as protection motivation theory (PMT) or the extended parallel process model (EPPM), appears to be limited. Implications for risk communication are discussed.

Assessing Technology in the Absence of Proof: Trust Based on the Interplay of Others' Opinions and the Interaction Process.

OBJECTIVE: The present research addresses the question of how trust in systems is formed when unequivocal information about system accuracy and reliability is absent, and focuses on the interaction of indirect information (others' evaluations) and direct (experiential) information stemming from the interaction process. BACKGROUND: Trust in decision-supporting technology, such as route planners, is important for satisfactory user interactions. Little is known, however, about trust formation in the absence of outcome feedback, that is, when users have not yet had opportunity to verify actual outcomes. METHOD: Three experiments manipulated others' evaluations ("endorsement cues") and various forms of experience-based information ("process feedback") in interactions with a route planner and measured resulting trust using rating scales and credits staked on the outcome. Subsequently, an overall analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Study 1 showed that effectiveness of endorsement cues on trust is moderated by mere process feedback. In Study 2, consistent (i.e., nonrandom) process feedback overruled the effect of endorsement cues on trust, whereas inconsistent process feedback did not. Study 3 showed that although the effects of consistent and inconsistent process feedback largely remained regardless of face validity, high face validity in process feedback caused higher trust than those with low face validity. An overall analysis confirmed these findings. CONCLUSION: Experiential information impacts trust even if outcome feedback is not available, and, moreover, overrules indirect trust cues-depending on the nature of the former. APPLICATION: Designing systems so that they allow novice users to make inferences about their inner workings may foster initial trust.

Enhancing self-protective behavior: efficacy beliefs and peer feedback in risk communication.

In times of a high-impact safety incident citizens may have a variety of sources available to help them cope with the situation. This research focuses on the interplay of efficacy information in risk communication messages and peer feedback, such as responses on social network sites (SNSs) in the context of a high-impact risk on the intention to engage in self-protective behavior. The study pitted high and low efficacy information messages against supporting and opposing peer feedback (N = 242). Results show a significant interaction effect between efficacy information in a news article and peer feedback from SNS messages on both the intention to engage in self-protective behavior and levels of involvement. Participants who received the article with more efficacy information and also received supportive peer feedback via SNS messages were more likely to express higher levels of involvement and greater intentions to engage in protective behavior. When confronted with a low efficacious news article, the effect of peer feedback on these two variables was significantly stronger. Finally, implications for theory and government risk communication are discussed.