Copyright: 2010

Publisher: Penguin

ISBN: 9781617230011

The Man Who Lied to His Laptop is a fascinating look into the world of human computer interaction.  Clifford Nass has done extensive research into the concept of computers as social actors.  For several decades he has explored the idea that people interact with computers in much the same way as they interact with other humans.  This goes far beyond just the simple anthropomorphization that we witness when a frustrated user says his computer is stupid or when a bank customer yells at an ATM for not giving him money.  In his latest book, Nass takes his research one step further and instead of just helping computer designers understand how people interact with computers, he uses computers to help us understand how we interact with each other.

Faulty Navigation

In the introduction Nass relates a problem that BMW had when it released it's new navigation system in it's Five Series cars in Germany.  They were forced to do a recall on an arguably superior navigation system because it turned out, German male drivers refused to take directions from the female voice of the navigation unit.  Even when technicians explained that the cartographers and engineers who designed the system were likely males, the drivers still refused to acknowledge that the directions were accurate. 

The implications of this kind of behavior are intense for anyone designing software interactions.  The fact that people will treat our software as a social actor means we must think not just in terms of "easy to use interfaces" but also "easy, intelligent, empathetic, thoughtful...." and the list goes on.

Short Notes

Because I own this particular book I will not write extensive notes on this page, just a few refresher notes.

Praise vs. Criticism

Praise is accepted whether it is accurate or not.  Criticism on the other hand is filtered based on its accuracy.  Critics will invariably have negative feelings associated with them, regardless of whether where the criticism is directed. 

Interestingly, critical or negative software is considered to be more expert even while it has negative feelings attached.  Praising or positive software is considered less expert but more user friendly.

When offering criticism it should be action-oriented by offering what can be done to fix the problem.

Hedonic Assymetry

This is a self-serving bias that we all suffer.  Neutral is viewed as bad because we all consider ourselves above average.

Fixed vs. Growth mindset

Carol Dweck, a Stanford psychologist, has identified people's fundamental views about success and failure.  She calls them mindsets and most people are either of a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

Folks in a fixed mindset believe that intelligence and ability are innate qualities and cannot be changed.  When faced with failure and / or criticism, their reaction is "I am just not good at this."

On the other hand, people with a growth mindset see opportunity in every failure and criticism. They believe that intelligence and ability are growth qualities and that failure is actually a good thing as it identifies an area for effort. 

These mindsets are critical to identify, particularly when working with children as they can greatly affect how we should approach their grades in school and their approach to learning.

Team Building

Nass has an entire section explaining why the whole cottage industry of "team building" is largely a failure.  He points out that the two basic tenets of team building are identification and interdependence.  These are surprisingly easy to do at times but are also surprisingly incompatible with many of the techniques that "team builders" use.

Conclusion

This book is a great read.  The chapter break-downs are a little odd and the book reads a little bit like a long list of anecdotal evidence at times.  The author seems to be trying to break out of his shell of helping computer designers in order to help psychologists in general.  I don't know how effective he will be at this attempt but the book contained plenty of information that was useful to me, a non-psychologist!