ABSTRACT

Informed by theoretical perspectives on working memory demands and devices’ potential to “prime” different types of cognitive processing, this paper investigates whether we tend to think “faster” and more intuitively, with less reflection when we use a smartphone instead of a personal computer (PC) or notebook. Three complementary experimental studies with a total of 823 participants reveal that the results of using such devices surface only when participants can select the smartphone as their preferred device. Controlling for potential confounding variables reveals no evidence of general differences between devices. Our findings caution against overemphasizing the importance of the type of device in thinking slow or fast and establish self-selection bias as an important factor in explaining such differences. This study contributes to clarifying the psychology of smartphone screens and how humans make choices when they are using these devices.

摘要

本文根据工作记忆需求和设备“启动”不同类型认知处理的潜力的理论观点，研究了当我们使用智能手机而不是个人电脑时，我们是否倾向于“更快”、更直观地思考，而较少反思（个人电脑）或笔记本电脑。共有 823 名参与者参加的三项补充实验研究表明，只有当参与者选择智能手机作为他们的首选设备时，使用此类设备的结果才会显现出来。控制潜在的混杂变量并没有发现设备之间存在普遍差异的证据。我们的研究结果告诫不要过分强调设备类型在慢速或快速思考中的重要性，并将自我选择偏差作为解释此类差异的重要因素。