February 14, 2018
The Board of Trustees is proud to recognize the achievements and contributions of Clemson University’s faculty and staff. The purpose of the Board of Trustees Award for Excellence is to identify and acknowledge faculty and staff whose vision, accomplishments, and efforts have brought honor to Clemson University.
December 2, 2017
Margaux Ascherl (Price) discusses her work at John Deere.
The world’s population of 7.3 billion is predicted to grow to 9.7 billion by 2050, according to the Global Harvest Initiative. To feed all those people, global agricultural productivity must increase by 1.75 percent annually.
One person working to drive this increase is Margaux Ascherl, PhD, user experience leader at John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group in Urbandale, Iowa. John Deere recruited Ascherl in late 2012 while she was finishing her PhD in human factors psychology at Clemson University. Five years later, she now leads a team responsible for the design and testing of precision agriculture technology used in John Deere equipment.
Ascherl spoke to the Monitor about what it’s like to apply psychology in an agricultural context and how her team is helping farmers embrace new technology to feed the world.
August 9, 2017
August 9, 2017
Symposium chaired by Arathi Sethumadhavan (CORE HF) & Anne McLaughlin (NCSU). Symposium participants were Mac Smith (Google), and Tim Nichols (Microsoft). The 2017 APA Division 21 Program Chair was Richard Pak.
July 24, 2017
April 27, 2017
Our new research has just been published. The full text PDF is available by clicking here.
Citation:
Pak, R., Rovira, E., McLaughlin, A. C., & Leidheiser, W. (2017, April 10). Evaluating Attitudes and Experience With Emerging Technology in Cadets and Civilian Undergraduates. Military Psychology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/mil0000175
Evaluating Attitudes and Experience With Emerging Technology in Cadets and Civilian Undergraduates.
Abstract: Existing research on the characteristics of digital natives, traditionally defined as those born after 1980, has shown subtle differences in how they approach technology compared with other cohorts. However, much of the existing research has focused on a limited set of conventional technologies, mostly related to learning. In addition, prior research has shown differences within this cohort in how they respond to autonomous technology (e.g., trust, reliance; Pak, Rovira, McLaughlin, & Baldwin, 2016). The purpose of this short report, representing the first wave of data collection in a larger study examining technology experience and attitude change, is to directly address 2 shortcomings in the literature on digital natives which tends to emphasize: (a) civilian students; and (b) conventional, often learning technologies. We addressed these 2 issues by recruiting 2 subgroups of digital natives (students and military cadets) and assessing attitudes and experience with a wide range of technology spanning from conventional (e.g., mobile) to emerging (e.g., robotics). The results showed that that both groups were surprisingly unfamiliar with emerging consumer technologies. Additionally, contrary to expectations, cadets were significantly, albeit only slightly, less experienced with mobile technologies, VR/augmented reality, social media, and entertainment technology as compared to civilian undergraduates.
April 12, 2017
November 21, 2016
Our latest article “Effects of individual differences in working memory on performance and trust with various degrees of automation” has been published on Taylor & Francis Online. It is available at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1463922X.2016.1252806.
ABSTRACT
Previous studies showed performance benefits with correct automation, but performance costs when the automation was incorrect (i.e. provided an incorrect course of action), particularly as degrees of automation increased. Automation researchers have examined individual differences, but have not investigated the relationship between working memory and performance with various degrees of automation that is both correct and incorrect. In the current study, working memory ability interacted with automation reliability and degree of automation. Higher degrees of correct automation helped performance while higher degrees of incorrect automation worsened performance, especially for those with lower working memory. Lower working memory was also associated with more trust in automation. Results illustrate the interaction between degree of automation and individual differences in working memory on performance with automation that is correct and automation that fails.
September 30, 2016
Richard Pak was elected fellow of the American Psychological Association, effective January 2017.
Fellow status is an honor bestowed upon APA members who have shown evidence of unusual and outstanding contributions or performance in the field of psychology. Fellow status requires that a person’s work has had a national impact on the field of psychology beyond a local, state or regional level. A high level of competence or steady and continuing contributions are not sufficient to warrant fellow status. National impact must be demonstrated.
September 26, 2016
