Computers in Human Behavior最新文献

{"title":"Think twice, scroll once: Encouraging critical reflection as a shield against health misinformation and overgeneralized messaging by social media influencers","authors":"Jaroslava Kaňková,&nbsp;Jörg Matthes","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108896","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108896","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Social media influencers (SMIs) are central actors in today's digital environments, shaping young people's beliefs and attitudes. Yet, their messaging often contains misleading claims. This study examines the effects of two types of misleading communication by SMIs, misinformation and overgeneralized messaging, and tests an intervention designed to foster critical evaluation of this content. We conducted a 3 (message: misinformation vs. overgeneralized vs. correct) × 2 (intervention: present vs. absent) mixed-design online experiment using realistic TikTok videos, with Gen Z participants (18–25 years old) and a two-week follow-up (<em>N</em>w₁ = 562; <em>N</em>w₂ = 370). Both misinformation and overgeneralized content undermined message credibility, belief accuracy, source trustworthiness, and parasocial relationships. The intervention largely reduced susceptibility to misinformation, but these effects diminished over time. For overgeneralized messaging, the intervention's effects were minimal and short-lived. This suggests that while critical reflection provides short-term protection against misinformation, its effects do not extend to subtler forms of misleading content.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"177 ","pages":"Article 108896"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gamified feedback in adaptive retrieval practice: Points and progress-bars enhance motivation but not learning","authors":"Gesa S. E. van den Broek ,&nbsp;Stefanie Scholten ,&nbsp;Bente van Thuil ,&nbsp;Hedderik van Rijn ,&nbsp;Tamara van Gog ,&nbsp;Maarten van der Velde","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108862","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108862","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Retrieval practice is an effective but effortful learning strategy during which learners bring information from memory to mind (e.g., when self-testing with flashcard software). Because it is effortful, learners often find it hard to maintain during self-study. We therefore investigated if gamified feedback could make retrieval practice more attractive to learners, while maintaining or increasing its benefits for learning. In an online experiment, 166 adult participants studied foreign vocabulary (i.e., practiced retrieval of the word meaning) with an adaptive fact learning system. Each participant practiced once in a control condition, and once in a gamified condition: either a <em>points</em> condition which showed a score that increased for every correct answer, or a <em>points-and-progress</em> condition, that additionally displayed on two progress bars how the score increased. Compared to the control condition, the gamified conditions enhanced self-reported feelings of competence, enjoyment, and task value as well as experienced goal setting and the desire to perform well. Differences between points and points-and-progress condition were only found for goal-setting (which was higher for points-and-progress). Gamified feedback did not affect learning behaviors during practice, nor recall on a delayed posttest. However, the response speed, score achieved, number of practiced words, and number of trials completed with gamified feedback were lower when participants first practiced with gamified feedback and then without, compared to when they first completed the control condition and then received gamified feedback. Taken together, results suggest that gamified feedback may be a useful addition to enhance motivation for learning with retrieval practice software.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"177 ","pages":"Article 108862"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145685063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Trusted Partner for financial decision making: Romantic partner or AI?","authors":"Erik Hermann ,&nbsp;Max Alberhasky","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108877","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108877","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Consumers increasingly turn to financial advisory services driven by artificial intelligence (AI)—financial robo advisors—to seek financial advice, yet financial and investment decisions are often made within romantic partnerships. We investigate whether financial advice is more likely to be accepted when it comes from one's romantic partner versus AI as the advice source and explore the underlying processes and AI design features shaping willingness to follow financial advice. Across four experiments, we find robust evidence of AI aversion: consumers prefer financial advice from their romantic partner over AI advice. The relationship between the source of advice and willingness to follow the advice is mediated by cognitive and affective trust, with affective trust being the stronger mediator. Study 2 shows that anthropomorphizing AI reduces AI aversion—advice from an anthropomorphized robo advisor is accepted at rates similar to partner advice. Studies 3 A and 3 B demonstrate that advice from a romantic partner using AI assistance is accepted at similarly high rates as romantic partner advice but significantly more than standalone AI. These findings highlight the critical role of affective trust in high-stakes financial decisions and show that anthropomorphism and human-AI collaboration can mitigate consumer resistance to AI in relational financial contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"177 ","pages":"Article 108877"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145685069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Altered uncertainty processing during adaptive learning in internet gaming disorder","authors":"Yi-Xu Pang ,&nbsp;Lei Zhang ,&nbsp;Yuan-Wei Yao ,&nbsp;Marc N. Potenza ,&nbsp;Lu Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108882","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108882","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is characterized by difficulty in stopping online gaming behaviors despite negative consequences. The symptoms may reflect deficits in adaptive learning related to uncertainty representations of changing environments. However, how individuals with IGD process uncertainty information during probabilistic learning has rarely been assessed. A total of 78 participants, including 38 IGD participants and 40 healthy control subjects (HCs), completed a probabilistic learning task, in which reward probabilities and probability reversals were manipulated to create an uncertain environment. Overall and trial-by-trial-based uncertainty indices were estimated using computational modelling. The IGD group showed lower prediction accuracy and a higher proportion of choice switches, as compared to HCs. Computational modeling identified an interaction between task probability difference level and group in trial-based uncertainty. Moreover, the probability-difference-induced uncertainty in the IGD group was associated with poorer task performance. The results suggest that impaired probabilistic learning performance under uncertainty in IGD participants may contribute to insensitivity to environmental changes, which may have a negative impact on their daily choices. The findings highlight a novel, quantifiable approach to advancing understanding of the mechanisms underlying learning deficits in IGD.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"177 ","pages":"Article 108882"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of digital empathy: Non-linear relationships between daily digital communication time and digital empathic tendencies","authors":"Andrew M. Collins ,&nbsp;Wayne A. Warburton ,&nbsp;Naomi Sweller ,&nbsp;Kay Bussey","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2026.109007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2026.109007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>‘Digital empathy’ is the experience of empathy while communicating using digital platforms like social media, texting, and email. Previous research (Collins et al., 2025) indicated that digital empathy is an important predictor of online pro-social behaviors such as defending victims of cyber-aggression. However, little is known about the factors that influence the development of digital empathy. This investigation examined one possible influence on its development: time spent communicating using digital platforms that are particularly deficient in nonverbal cues typical of face-to-face communication (‘cue-deficient digital communication’, CDDC), such as texting. Using cross-sectional datasets, relationships were assessed between CDDC usage and digital empathic tendencies, while controlling for time spent communicating using digital platforms that are relatively rich in such nonverbal cues (‘cue-rich digital communication’, CRDC), such as video chat. Relationships were assessed within three different samples and appeared to differ based on the predominant gender of each sample. In the sample with most males, digital empathy generally had non-linear relationships with CDDC, with digital empathy increasing as time in CDDC increased until about 7.5 hours a day, after which digital empathy decreased. However, in the other two samples (both with more females than males), relationships between CDDC and digital empathy were generally non-significant. Follow up analyses revealed gender-specific patterns of relationships between CDDC usage and digital empathy scales. Overall, results support the notion that digital empathy may be influenced by a person’s usage of digital communication, depending on their gender. Future research may use longitudinal data to examine whether the relationships observed in this investigation are causal.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"182 ","pages":"Article 109007"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147584470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of message framing on end-user security:An experimental approach to prevent identity theft via smishing","authors":"C. Jordan Howell ,&nbsp;Caitlyn N. Muniz ,&nbsp;George Burruss ,&nbsp;Taylor Fisher ,&nbsp;Kaylee Eckelman ,&nbsp;David Maimon","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108864","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108864","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Identity theft, exacerbated by smishing (SMS-based phishing), is inadequately addressed by countermeasures that focus primarily on technical solutions, overlooking the role of human behavior. This study proposes a theoretically grounded messaging system using fear appeals via text messages to enhance user security and prevent repeat victimization among identity theft victims. Stolen identities were sourced from illicit online platforms and divided into control and treatment groups. The treatment groups received either gain- or loss-framed fear appeals. The control group received no such messages. Simulated smishing attacks were conducted at two intervals: 1 h (wave 1) and one day (wave 2) after message receipt. The randomized controlled trial found that both gain- and loss-framed appeals reduced smishing victimization at wave 1, but only the gain-framed message remained effective at wave 2. These findings demonstrate that behavioral interventions grounded in established psychological theory can meaningfully reduce susceptibility to cyberattacks in real-world settings. By showing that gain-framed messages sustain protective behaviors longer than loss-framed ones, this study contributes to both theory and practice by identifying an effective, low-cost complement to traditional technical defenses. This study advances theoretical understanding, informs proactive policy, and highlights the need for improved data collection to enhance crime data infrastructure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"176 ","pages":"Article 108864"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145615732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Depressed individuals’ support seeking in online communities: The role of anonymity, self-disclosure, and privacy skills","authors":"Jesse King,&nbsp;Amy L. Gonzales,&nbsp;Laurent H. Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108863","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108863","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Drawing from Luo and Hancock’s (2020) <em>framework of self-disclosure in social media and psychological well-being</em> and Büchi and Hargittai’s (2022) model for <em>considering digital inequality when studying social media use and well-being</em>, this study investigated how anonymity (i.e., affordance anonymity and self-anonymity) is related to emotional support seeking among people experiencing depression in online communities through increased self-disclosure, and tested how inequalities in privacy skills moderate such support-seeking processes. Results from an online survey with a sample of depressed individuals revealed that self-disclosure fully mediated the relationships between self-anonymity and online emotional support, but only when privacy skills were high. Additionally, privacy skills moderated the relationship between self-anonymity and depression disclosures such that those who had high privacy skills disclosed the most when self-anonymity was high, particularly on Reddit. Results further revealed platform differences (i.e., Reddit and Facebook) in the support-seeking processes. Qualitative analyses of the depression-related disclosures and their received comments elaborate on such platform differences. Together, the findings provide an empirical validation and extension of Luo and Hancock's framework by testing two types of anonymity and the mediating role of self-disclosure, and elaborate Büchi and Hargittai's model by testing privacy skills as a moderator of support seeking.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"176 ","pages":"Article 108863"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145570470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Human-bot symbiosis and misinformation propagation: Exploring the mechanisms of social bot participation from the perspective of emotional contagion","authors":"Shiying Zhang ,&nbsp;Qing Ke ,&nbsp;Linyi Zhang ,&nbsp;Xuhong Zhang ,&nbsp;Aijie Li","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108865","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108865","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rise of human-bot symbiosis has exacerbated the viral spread of misinformation, yet understanding how human-bot interactions shape its propagation remains underexplored. Building on emotional contagion theory, this study introduced a novel four-dimensional evaluation framework to examine emotional contagion in misinformation propagation. For the first time, we uncovered three distinct patterns: balanced contagion, echo chamber, and explosive contagion, revealing unique mechanisms of emotional diffusion in the spread of online misinformation. By comparing different machine learning algorithms, the study employed the best-performing CatBoost to effectively detect social bot accounts in the Chinese context. Leveraging a large-scale misinformation dataset, we analyzed the interaction patterns of different dissemination agents It was found that social bots tend to repost content from high-influence users. We also investigate the strategic roles of dissemination agents in the misinformation propagation network, and found that social bots primarily act as “endpoint disseminators”. This study not only extends the application scenarios of emotional contagion theory but also provides empirical evidence for social bot detection and misinformation governance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"176 ","pages":"Article 108865"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145615731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neural correlates of social exclusion in individuals with excessive smartphone use","authors":"Gudrun M. Henemann ,&nbsp;Mike M. Schmitgen ,&nbsp;Sophie H. Haage ,&nbsp;Jakob P. Rosero ,&nbsp;Patrick Bach ,&nbsp;Nadine D. Wolf ,&nbsp;Julian Koenig ,&nbsp;Robert C. Wolf","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108852","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108852","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Excessive smartphone use (ESU) is increasingly recognized as a condition closely resembling other addictive disorders. While neuroscientific research on ESU has largely focused on reward and cognitive-control networks, the socio-cognitive domain has received comparatively little attention. In this context, social exclusion represents a particularly relevant construct, as digital connectivity has become central to maintaining a sense of social belonging.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>To fill this gap, we investigated neural correlates of social exclusion in individuals with (n = 23) and without ESU (n = 18), using fMRI and the Cyberball paradigm. We also explored associations between brain activity and degrees of ESU and used standardized neurotransmitter maps to examine neural correlates involved in the processing of social exclusion.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Between-group comparisons indicated heightened neural activity in the ESU group in the right middle cingulate cortex (MCC) extending into the right superior frontal cortex. By contrast, individuals without ESU showed increased activity in the left superior parietal cortex (SPC). Correlations between cross-modal brain activity and neurotransmitter maps highlighted the significant role played by dopaminergic and serotonergic transmission. Additionally, activity within the left SPC correlated positively with the “functional impairment” sub-score of the Smartphone Addiction Inventory.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Neural activity during social exclusion differs in individuals with and without ESU. Hyperactivation of the MCC indicates heightened sensitivity to social exclusion in ESU, underscoring its relevance within a socio-cognitive framework of the condition. These findings emphasize the importance of further investigating how the anticipation, avoidance, or experience of social exclusion may contribute to the development and maintenance of ESU.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"176 ","pages":"Article 108852"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145570471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Personality perception through prosodic features and eye movements: A cognitive constructionism approach using a social robot","authors":"Ritsuko Iwai ,&nbsp;Yusuke Takahashi ,&nbsp;Carlos Toshinori Ishi ,&nbsp;Taiken Shintani ,&nbsp;Takatsune Kumada","doi":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108795","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chb.2025.108795","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study introduces a novel “cognitive constructionism” approach that integrates methodologies from psychology and robotics to explore the impact of nonverbal cues on personality perception. By systematically manipulating prosodic features and gaze behavior in a social robot, we investigated how variations in these nonverbal signals influence human perceptions of distinct personality traits. Specifically, we examined the extent to which gaze and vocal characteristics shape the attribution of three personality types: resilient, average, and delicate. The resilient type is characterized by extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, low neuroticism (i.e., emotional stability), and openness to experience, whereas the delicate type represents the opposite. The average type reflects moderate levels across all five traits. In Study 1 (<em>n</em> = 523), we identified combinations of voice parameters—speech rate, pitch height, and pitch range—that were associated with perceptions of resilient and average personality prototypes. While the delicate type did not show a fully distinct pattern, most of its traits aligned sufficiently to allow classification. Study 2 (<em>n</em> = 234) revealed that specific directions of eye movement influenced personality perceptions, although deviations in gaze parameters had minimal effects. Study 3 examined the combined effects of voice and gaze on personality perceptions (<em>n</em> = 271). The results demonstrated that resilient-type voices were more strongly perceived when paired with straight gaze, average-type voices with horizontal gaze, and delicate-type voices with right under gaze. Utilizing the cognitive constructionism approach, this study demonstrated that gaze behavior and vocal characteristics jointly influence personality perception in a complex, non-additive manner, with their interactions varying across personality traits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48471,"journal":{"name":"Computers in Human Behavior","volume":"176 ","pages":"Article 108795"},"PeriodicalIF":8.9,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145570472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}