Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s some interesting tech reading, ‘The Man Who Lied to his Laptop.’ This book, by Sociologist Clifford Nass, looks into how people treat their technology and maps out these interactions to help build effective human relationships.

With a degree in Computer Science and Sociology, Nass has discovered an interesting relationship between man and machine and why certain technologies succeed and fail. Nass talks about one technology people tend to interact with most, your GPS.

In an interview with NPR Nass explained, “BMW put a female voice in their GPS, and they actually had to have a product recall, because German drivers would not take directions from a woman. And what was particularly striking was, even after the helpdesk, when people were calling in angry, tried to explain that in fact it wasn’t a real female in the car and in fact that all the people who had designed the GPS and the directions were male, nonetheless people were unfazed and insisted on changing the voice.”

In a test, drivers using a GPS were presented with two voices a happy, upbeat voice to start their journey and a down, morose voice.

“Most people, when they hear that second voice, think, my goodness, I’d fire anyone who would ever use a voice like that. But, in fact, in our research it turned out that happy drivers drove much better with that first voice. But upset and angry drivers actually drove much better, felt much better, thought the voice was better when it was that second depressed, almost morose voice.”

Clifford Nass’ book is currently available in hardcover for $25.95 (list).