Evolutionary Psychology and Information Systems Research A New Approach to Studying the Effects of Modern Technologies on Human Behavior

This book is a compilation of chapters written by leading researchers from all over the world. Those researchers’ common characteristic is that they have investigated issues at the intersection of the elds of information systems (IS) and evoluti- ary psychology (EP). The main goal of this book is to serve as a reference for IS research building on EP concepts and theories (in short, IS-EP research). The book is organized in three main parts: Part I focuses on EP concepts and theories that can be used as a basis for IS-EP research; Part II provides several exemplars of IS-EP research in practice; and Part III summarizes emerging issues and debate that can inform IS-EP research, including debate regarding philosophical foundations and credibility of related ndings. IS-EP research is generally concerned with the use of concepts and theories from EP in the study of IS, particularly regarding the impact of modern information and communication technologies on the behavior of individuals, groups, and organi- tions. From a practitioners’ perspective, the most immediate consumers of IS-EP research are those who develop and use IS, of which a large contingent are in bu- nesses that employ IS to support marketing, order-taking, production, and delivery of goods and services. In this context, IS-EP ndings may be particularly useful due to the present need to design web-based interfaces that will be used by in- viduals from different cultures, and often different countries, and whose common denominator is their human nature.

Theoretical and Conceptual Issues.- Evolutionary Psychology and Information Systems Theorizing.- Group-Level Evolution and Information Systems: What Can We Learn From Animal Colonies in Nature?.- Applying Evolutionary Psychology to the Study of Post-adoption Information Technology Use: Reinforcement, Extension, or Revolution?.- The Behavioral Ecology of Human Foraging in an Online Environment: Of Omnivores, Informavores, and Hunter–Gatherers.- Empirical Research Exemplars.- Surprise and Human Evolution: How a Snake Screen Enhanced Knowledge Transfer Through a Web Interface.- How Do e-Learners Participate in Synchronous Online Discussions? Evolutionary and Social Psychological Perspectives.- Who Is in Your Shopping Cart? Expected and Experienced Effects of Choice Abundance in the Online Dating Context.- Cognitive Adaptation and Collective Action: The P2P File-Sharing Phenomenon.- Studying Invisibly: Media Naturalness and Learning.- Using Evolutionary Psychology to Extend Our Understanding of Fit and Human Drives in Information Systems (IS) Utilization Decisions and Performance.- The Interaction of Communication Medium and Management Control Systems in the Processes and Outcomes of Transfer Price Negotiations.- A Research Model for Online Social Behavior Based on an Evolutionary, Social Psychological, and Technological Approach.- Emerging Issues and Debate.- Costly Traits and e-Collaboration: The Importance of Oral Speech in Electronic Knowledge Communication.- Homo Virtualensis: Evolutionary Psychology as a Tool for Studying Video Games.- The Modern Hunter–Gatherer Hunts Aliens and Gathers Power-Ups: The Evolutionary Appeal of Violent Video Games and How They Can Be Beneficial.- Three Roads to Cultural Recurrence.- Evolution as Metaphor: A Critical Review of the Useof Evolutionary Concepts in Information Systems and e-Commerce.

Ned Kock (full name: Nereu Florencio Kock) is Professor of Information Systems in the Division of International Business and Technology Studies, A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business, Texas A&M International University. Ned also serves as the Director of the Collaborative for International Technology Studies (CITS), VP for Public Relations and former Founding President of the South Texas Information Management Society (STIMS), Founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of e-Collaboration (IJeC), and Associate Editor for Information Systems of the journal IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (IEEE TPC).

 

He holds a B.E.E. in electronics engineering from the Federal Technological University of Parana at Curitiba, Brazil, a M.Sc. in computer science from the Institute of Aeronautical Technology, Brazil, and a Ph.D. in management with a concentration in information systems from the School of Management Studies, University of Waikato, New Zealand. Ned's Ph.D. research analyzed the impact of asynchronous e-collaboration technologies on business process improvement groups.