research-article

Personas and Persons - An Empirical Study on Stereotyping of Personas

Authors:

Monika Pröbster,

Nicola MarsdenAuthors Info & Claims

MuC '19: Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2019

Pages 137 - 145

https://doi.org/10.1145/3340764.3340771

Published: 08 September 2019 Publication History

Abstract

Personas are considered a key method to induce empathy for users. However, they are also said to trigger stereotyping, e.g. by using photographs that convey information about gender, ethnicity, or age of the persona. To investigate this assumption, we conducted an eye-tracking study with 93 students from degree programs in computer science. The participants received an - otherwise identical - persona description with different visualizations in four experimental conditions: a) the photo of a dark-skinned woman, b) the photo of a light-skinned woman, c) a drawing (sketch) or d) no visualization. We examined the conditions with regard to their influence on perception in terms of the "stereotype content model" and other attributes of the persona. The results show that the type of visual representation had certain influence on the perception of the persona and could somewhat reduce stereotyping. Gender and cultural background of the participants had significant influences. We discuss the results against the backdrop of in-group/out-group phenomena and stereotypes.

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Cited By

Kaate ISalminen JJung SSantos JHäyhänen EXuan TAzem JJansen BBoratto LGena CMarras MGermanakos PPopescus E(2024)Modeling the New Modalities of Personas: How Do Users' Attributes Influence Their Perceptions and Use of Interactive Personas?Adjunct Proceedings of the 32nd ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization10.1145/3631700.3664882(164-169)Online publication date: 27-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3631700.3664882
Salminen JSantos JJung SJansen B(2023)How does an imaginary persona's attractiveness affect designers' perceptions and IT solutions? An experimental study on users' remote working needsInformation Technology & People10.1108/ITP-09-2022-072936:8(196-225)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-09-2022-0729
Nolte ALueneburg KWallach DJochems N(2022)Creating Personas for Signing User Populations: An Ability-Based Approach to User Modelling in HCIProceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3517428.3550364(1-6)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3517428.3550364
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Index Terms

Personas and Persons - An Empirical Study on Stereotyping of Personas
1. Applied computing
  1. Law, social and behavioral sciences
    1. Psychology
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Empirical studies in HCI
    2. HCI theory, concepts and models

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MuC '19: Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2019

September 2019

863 pages

ISBN:9781450371988

DOI:10.1145/3340764

Copyright © 2019 ACM.

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Published: 08 September 2019

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Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

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MuC'19

MuC'19: Mensch-und-Computer

September 8 - 11, 2019

Hamburg, Germany

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Cited By

Kaate ISalminen JJung SSantos JHäyhänen EXuan TAzem JJansen BBoratto LGena CMarras MGermanakos PPopescus E(2024)Modeling the New Modalities of Personas: How Do Users' Attributes Influence Their Perceptions and Use of Interactive Personas?Adjunct Proceedings of the 32nd ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization10.1145/3631700.3664882(164-169)Online publication date: 27-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3631700.3664882
Salminen JSantos JJung SJansen B(2023)How does an imaginary persona's attractiveness affect designers' perceptions and IT solutions? An experimental study on users' remote working needsInformation Technology & People10.1108/ITP-09-2022-072936:8(196-225)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2023
https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-09-2022-0729
Nolte ALueneburg KWallach DJochems N(2022)Creating Personas for Signing User Populations: An Ability-Based Approach to User Modelling in HCIProceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3517428.3550364(1-6)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3517428.3550364
Holzinger AKargl MKipperer BRegitnig PPlass MMuller H(2022)Personas for Artificial Intelligence (AI) an Open Source ToolboxIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2022.315477610(23732-23747)Online publication date: 2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3154776
Schäfer KZweck AMertens ABrandl CNitsch V(2022)Personas, ein Instrument zur erleichterten Handhabung emotionaler Aspekte in Foresightprozessen?Gefühlte Zukunft10.1007/978-3-658-35890-7_10(219-244)Online publication date: 7-May-2022
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-35890-7_10
Dirks S(2020)Persona Design in Participatory Agile Software DevelopmentHCI International 2020 – Late Breaking Papers: Universal Access and Inclusive Design10.1007/978-3-030-60149-2_5(52-64)Online publication date: 25-Sep-2020
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60149-2_5

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