Freshman class

People and machines

Seung-A Annie Jin, assistant professor of communication

Ph.D., University of Southern California

Representative publication: “Effects of a Computer Game Designed for Stress Management Education” (dissertation)

I am interested in the social-psychological aspects of interactive communication technologies. The underlying themes of my research are the effects of various forms of computer-based technologies on (1) people’s attitudinal/behavioral change; (2) knowledge acquisition, and; (3) affective responses to actors in virtual environments, mainly at the psychological/micro level. My research focuses on computer-mediated interpersonal communication (e.g., instant messaging), computer video games, and virtual reality. Most recently, I have been interested in avatar-based advertising and marketing communication in “Second Life,” a virtual reality game. My other research interests include the social-psychological impact of socially interactive robots and the potential of human-robot interaction interfaces in teaching and learning.