SI 688: Fundamentals of Human Behavior

Surveys basic principles of cognitive and social psychology relevant to the design and use of information systems. Focuses on important findings in psychological science and their implications for the design and use of information systems. Topics include the basics of human perception, memory capacity and organization, the development of skill and expertise, and the characteristics of everyday reasoning and decision making. For example, a central problem in information science is how to label information stored for later recall. By examining how human memory operates, we can gain some insight into possible schemes that may be compatible with human users. This survey of what we know about the human mind offers ideas about how to exploit mental capacities in the design and use of information systems.

Each week in the course, students read original articles and discuss their content. For each session, students should come prepared with questions regarding the readings (~40 pages per week). Since no background in psychology is assumed, it is important that students actively identify unfamiliar concepts and raise questions in class. The instructor's goal is to provide assistance and support as students learn to draw upon and integrate new scientific findings into their thinking about information use. Students are expected to actively participate in discussions, and through interactions in class, learn to draw connections from the research literature. Because class discussions are the core activity in the course, it is expected that students attend class regularly, contribute to the interactions, and complete assignments on time.

Each student writes a one-page reaction paper each week to help identify the relevance of the ideas from the readings. This paper describes a concrete illustration of a psychological principle and its implications for information systems. There is also a final project requiring the evaluation of a single existing information system using multiple principles of psychology discussed throughout the term. This project can be conducted individually or in small groups (two to four students working together) and the report should contain no more than 10 pages. Final grades for the course are a weighted average of participation (one third), short papers (one third), and the final project (one third). Students should feel free to discuss their progress in the course, along with any suggestions, with the instructor at any time.