Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ecological Cognition:
A New Dynamic for
Human-Computer
Interaction
Introduction
Human computer interaction (HCI) is the study of the interaction
between actors and their computer environments. It has long been
argued that psychology has an important role to play in HCI, but
that detailing its role has been difficult (Carroll, 1991). In the 20th
century there were two dominant approaches to designing
human-computer systems, one being the cognitive approach, (which
was heavily based on the information processing model) and the
other being the behaviourist approach, which was based on the
stimulus-response theory that behaviour can be reinforced through
rewards.
Kaptelinin (1996) points out that the cognitive approach to HCI
may be limited and that it does not provide an appropriate concep-
tual basis for studies of computer use in their social, organisational,
and cultural context, in relation to the goals, plans and values of an
actor. The claim that all human behaviour can be explained as a
result of information processing is just as implausible as the earlier
assumption that the actions of an actor are the result of responses to
stimuli. Mantovani (1996), in attempting to understand the relation-
ship between goals and plans, indicates that the information-
328 The Mind, the Body and the World
with each other. For example if an actor had a plan to be social, but a
belief that this would be inappropriate, they would experience dis-
sonance as a result of their plan not being consonant with their belief.
Resolving this dissonance would achieve a state of consonance that
would result in either temperance or intemperance. If this actor held
a value that stated that they must never be social if it is inappropri-
ate, they could achieve consonance by abandoning the plan to be
social, which results in temperance. If the same actor had an interest in
being social and a belief that it was more important to be social than
not be social, they might resolve to disregard their belief, resulting in
intemperance.
If an actor experiences a desire without experiencing any disso-
nance they experience deference, as they will act out the desire imme-
diately. Vygotsky (1978) points out that infant actors will act out
their desires immediately and will not wait for days to do so. The
reason for this is that the infant actor is not experiencing dissonance
when they desire to do something, and therefore immediately acts
out the plan that resulted from the desire, thus experiencing defer-
ence.
The development and use of cognitions to shape action can clearly
be seen in infant actors. An infant actor will experience an urge creat-
ing existential forces leading to a desire to (for example) excrete
waste products. In the absence of dissonance, processes will occur
that results in the excretion occurring. Through the intervention of a
parental actor the infant can then develop their cognitions: this will
eventually lead to the experience of dissonance (that will eventually
result in temperance). For example the parent will impart the belief
that it is wrong to excrete in certain contexts as well as the belief that
in that context it will meet with their disapproval, and will assist the
infant actor in developing plans to excrete into a container. After this
training when the infant actor experiences the existential desire to
excrete and develops a plan to do so, they will experience dissonance
as a result of holding beliefs that they should refrain from acting out
that desire in that context, as it will be against the wishes of their par-
ents whom they have interest in, and will therefore modify their plan
to act out their desire into a plan that creates consonance. Also
observable in some infant actors is that the same beliefs will lead to
intemperance as opposed to temperance depending on the desire.
An infant may experience an affectance as a result of interacting with
their parents that may lead to vengeance forces that create a desire.
On experiencing a vengeance-driven desire some infant actors will
A New Dynamic for Human-Computer Interaction 331
modify their plan because they hold beliefs that excreting in a certain
context will meet with the disapproval of their parents (as a result of
parental training).
food it will strengthen its belief that pressing the lever delivers food
and will act out its plan to eat. If, as was done in Skinner’s experi-
ments, the rat is no longer presented with food when the lever is
pressed, this will challenge the rat’s existing belief that pressing the
lever leads to food, which will create dissonance the next time they
desire to eat. It is not the case that the so-called conditioned response
is becoming extinct. Instead what is happening is that the rat decides
(through its ‘belief structure’) that it will not achieve its goal to eat by
pressing the lever. The lever will still afford pressing, and the rat will
still plan to press the lever, but it will experience dissonance that will
lead it to abandon the plan, thus experiencing temperance.
social vengeance
Level 1
existential
order creative
goals plans
Level 2 interests
values beliefs
auditory visual
Level 3 haptic
olfactory gustatory
actors artefacts
Environment
structures etc.
marks, rearranging pages and some actors may take control of a situ-
ation, such as when members are flaming each other in a chat
session, and others will attempt to create order when a bulletin
board goes off-topic and will carry out actions to bring it back to the
original topic, despite the fact that allowing bulletin board to go off-
topic can increase sociability in the community (Bishop, 2002).
Chaos forces can be seen in some functional systems that form part
of virtual environments, as actors, who are often referred to as ‘trolls’
will create havoc through posting content, or carrying out actions
that incite other actors.
336 The Mind, the Body and the World
Virtual Communities
Seductive Hypermedia
The term ‘seductive hypermedia’ is used to describe a human-
computer system that orchestrates specific responses from the user
in order to change their behaviour due to the system’s ability to sus-
tain appeal (Mbakwe & Cunliffe, 2003). Current understanding of
seductive hypermedia is based on classical stimulus-response the-
ory, suggesting that the user can become seduced if they are pre-
sented with stimuli and are then rewarded for responding to it.
Mbakwe & Cunliffe (2003) argue that the first stage of seduction is
inducement, which ‘occurs instantaneously (or momentarily) prior to
interaction, where its role is to evoke attraction, or to distract the user’.
What Mbakwe & Cunliffe refer to as an inducement is perhaps the
impetus, such as an affordance. If an actor is using a hypermedia sys-
tem and is then presented with a hyperlink, it may lead to a reso-
nance, leading the actor to click on it. A strategically placed
hyperlink could be considered an inducement if it is placed there to
change the plans of the user. Such hyperlinks are referred to as per-
suasive mediating artefacts (Bishop, 2005). The next two stages of
seduction Cunliffe & Mbakwe (2003) argue are negotiation and sug-
gestion. In these stages they suggest that an actor is subject to an
experience and then is convinced that they have achieved their goal.
They also suggest that at this point the actor can cease using the
interface if they feel their goals have not been met. Perhaps what
Mbakwe & Cunliffe are trying to describe is the process of an actor
achieving consonance, through developing beliefs about the system
that are compatible with their cognitions. If an actor experiences a
desire upon perceiving a mediating artefact and thus developing a
plan to use it, they will use it if this leads them to achieve conso-
nance. That is, they will use the artefact if the plan to use it is conso-
nant with their existing plans, as well as their goals, values, beliefs
and interests. If the actor uses the mediating artefact in the way sug-
gested through its affordances they will have been persuaded,
which is what Mbakwe & Cunliffe (2003) indicate is the final stage of
seduction. Persuasion would have occurred as the actor will have
developed specific beliefs about the system’s ability to meet their
goals, as opposed to their so-called responses being reinforced,
which Mbakwe & Cunliffe (2003) indicate is necessary for the actor
to be seduced by the system. This is clearly not the case. The actor
will continue using the system and therefore be seduced by it so long
as they achieve consonance when they experience impetuses offered
by the system, and will not require so-called responses to be rein-
A New Dynamic for Human-Computer Interaction 339
Lester et al. (1997) and Bishop (2004). Lester et al. (1997) indicate that
APAs can provide problem-solving advice to actors using a e-learn-
ing system, which will help the actor in developing beliefs, and can
also play a powerful motivational role, which suggests that an APA
can influence the actor so that they develop constructive desires and
continue to use the system through developing plans. Indeed, Fogg
(2003) suggests that computers can take on the role of social actors
and persuade actors to do things, which would include assisting the
actor in developing constructive desires that lead them to conceive
plans to use the e-learning system and develop beliefs that are con-
sonant with their goals. In order for such agents to be persuasive
they must think and behave like human actors.
Discussion
In the 20th century there were two domination approaches to
designing human-computer systems, that being the cognitive
approach, which was heavily based on the information processing
model and the behaviourist approach, which was based on the clas-
sical stimuli-response theory. In the second half of that century,
understanding of what drives actors to act were heavily reliant on
hierarchical-needs theory, while artificially intelligent agents were
based on belief-desire-intent models. A core theme of these theories
is that actors are internally orientated who respond to stimuli in the
environment through internalised reflexes or schema and seek to
satisfy internal entities such as needs. Such models are unsatisfac-
tory when it comes to explaining the behaviour of actors. Actors will
often perform actions as a result of perceiving affordances in the
environment without reference to schemata or their so-called needs.
Such affordances directly influence the plans of actors, which may
lead them to act in a way different to how they initially intended to.
The plans of an actor are directly influenced by the forces that
drive their desires. An actor in their lifetime will experience five
binary-opposition forces, those being social-antisocial, creative-
destructive, order-chaos, vengeance-forgiveness and existential-
thanatotic. If an actor experiences an impetus and then intent, they
will experience a desire directed by one of these forces which creates
a plan and will act out that plan unless they experience dissonance
that results in them modifying or abandoning the plan resulting in
consonance. When an actor experiences a desire they will have to
make a judgement as to whether to act on it. Deference occurs if the
desire does not create any dissonance and is acted out or adopted
A New Dynamic for Human-Computer Interaction 341
Acknowledgements
The author would like to acknowledge all the anonymous reviewers
that provided comments on earlier drafts of this chapter. Glamorgan
Blended Learning is a Knowledge Transfer Initiative, supported by
the University of Glamorgan though the GTi Business Network of
which it is a member.
References
Bishop, J. (2002), Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Community,
Unpublished dissertation, available online at: http://www.
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Bishop, J. (2003), ‘The Internet for educating individuals with social
impairments’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning , 19 (4), pp. 546–556
Bishop, J. (2004), ‘The potential of persuasive technology in educating
heterogeneous user groups’, Unpublished thesis, available online at
http://www.jonathanbishop.com/publications/display.aspx?Item=14
Bishop, J. (2005), ‘The role of mediating artefacts in the design of persuasive
e-learning systems’, in: Proceedings of the Internet Technology & Applications
2005 Conference. Wrexham: North East Wales Institute of Higher
Education.
Bishop, J. (2006), ‘Social change in organic and virtual communities: An
exploratory study of Bishop Desires’. Paper presented to the Faith,
A New Dynamic for Human-Computer Interaction 343