iPod use and the perception of social introversion

Abstract

The recent proliferation of Apple iPods begs the question: what effect does iPod use have on society and social interaction? An experimental research design was utilised to examine iPod use and degree of extroversion on the perception social interaction. At a small Christian university in the south, 105 college students participated in this study, first completing a personality inventory and then answering questions based on one of two scenarios. The first hypothesis was that participants would view iPod users as less likely to engage in social interaction. The second hypothesis was that extroverted participants would perceive iPod users as less socially engaging than would introverted participants. The results support the hypothesis that people view iPod users as less likely to engage in social interaction than non-iPod users. Participants rated iPod users as less likely to engage in social behaviours such as making eye contact. The results did not support the hypothesis that extroverted participants would view iPod users differently than introverted participants. However, this may merely illustrate that the perception of iPod users is more universal than previously thought and transcends personality characteristics.

苹果的iPod的近期扩散引出了一个问题: Pod的使用对社会和社会交往产生了什么样的影响呢？实验研究检测了iPod的使用在何种程度上影响外向者的社会互动。在南方一个小的基督教大学, 105名大学生参加了这项研究, 首先完成了人格量表, 然后回答基于两种情况之一的问题。第一个假设是参与者作为iPod用户为不太可能从事社会交往。第二个假设是,外向参与者比内向的参与者更加认为iPod用户更少的参与社会活动。调查结果认为, 参与者认为iPod用户比非iPod用户更少参加社交互动。参与者认为iPod用户为不太可能从事社会行为, 如眼神接触。该结果并不支持外向参与者和内向参与者看iPod用户有任何不同。然而, 这可能仅仅是因为目前iPod用户比想象的更多, 可以对个性转变产生更大的影响。

Keywords:

• social interaction
• iPod use
• entertainment
• digital communication

关键词:

• 社会交互
• ipod使用者
• 娱乐
• 数字交流