Lab team:
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- Projects
- Cross-Group Recognition Bias and Diverse Digital Representations of Identity
- Effects of Patients' Internet Use on Medical Ethics Aspects of Doctor-Patient-Relationships
- Motivational antecedents of perspective taking
- Power and behavior in social interactions
- Self-Regulation and Information Exchange in Groups
- Self-regulation and Leadership
- Social Exclusion and Boredom in Virtual Environments
- The application of Social Software in E-learning
- The impact of competition on information exchange in subsequent contexts
- Understanding and Managing Downward Social Comparisons in Knowledge Awareness
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Social Processes Lab
The social character of knowledge exchange is obvious. However, social and motivational aspects also play a key role in knowledge acquisition. The self-concept and social motivation determine the content and amount of information search and therefore also influence knowledge acquisition. Especially for knowledge acquisition via media, social constellations such as differences in power are of crucial importance, as a large part of social information gets lost within the use of media. As a result the limited social information that is conveyed - such as known social constellations - can have all the more impact. In the course of the growing importance of social networks, online and offline relationships increasingly blend with social identities. As consequence, the relation of privacy and publicity in handling information receives new relevance.
Therefore, within two separate areas of research, the Social Processes Lab examines the enhancing and hindering influences of social and motivational factors on media-based knowledge acquisition and knowledge exchange.
Social aspects of cooperation
The success of cooperative media use is, among other things, dependent on the kind of task, the context, and the individuals involved as well as their social relations. This research area examines these social relations and thereby considers two central aspects: a) interpersonal relationships that are interfered in medial environments, and b) social identification which is fostered in these contexts. Correspondingly, we aim to determine how the difficulties that arise for interpersonal relations within media use can be overcome. In addition, this research area investigates the potentials of social identity can be optimally utilized.
Reactions to threat
Existing motivation research concerning both communication and cooperation media mainly discusses the motivation for intensive and accuracy-oriented information processing. However, in informal learning settings and in the private domain, a directional bias also accompanies this accuracy motivation, particularly when information is self-relevant. That is, users strive for a certain result of information processing. This line of research focuses on one particularly strong biasing motivational factor, threat and its influence on information processing and behaviour during media use. Thereby the impact of and strategies for dealing with the following social and non-social origins of threat are considered: social exclusion, breach of social values, endangered privacy, low performance (e.g., threatened self-esteem), and endangered health.