Search results

For decades, artificial intelligence (AI) has been utilized within the field of mental healthcare. This paper aims to examine AI chatbots, specifically as offered through mobile applications for mental healthcare (MHapps), with attention to the social implications of these technologies. For example, AI chatbots in MHapps are programmed with therapeutic techniques to assist people with anxiety and depression, but the promise of this technology is tempered by concerns about the apps' efficacy, privacy, safety and security.

Utilizing a social informatics perspective, a literature review covering MHapps, with a focus on AI chatbots was conducted from the period of January–April 2019. A borrowed theory approach pairing information science and social work was applied to analyze the literature.

Rising needs for mental healthcare, combined with expanding technological developments, indicate continued growth of MHapps and chatbots. While an AI chatbot may provide a person with a place to access tools and a forum to discuss issues, as well as a way to track moods and increase mental health literacy, AI is not a replacement for a therapist or other mental health clinician. Ultimately, if AI chatbots and other MHapps are to have a positive impact, they must be regulated, and society must avoid techno-fundamentalism in relation to AI for mental health.

This study adds to a small but growing body of information science research into the role of AI in the support of mental health.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how librarians used elements of market research, advertising and media literacy in a personal finance class.

Librarians each semester guest lecture one session in a personal finance class “Foundations of Money Education.” Through this class, librarians present engaging material about market research and advertising in an effort to encourage students to think about how these external forces influence their spending behavior.

Students appreciate learning about advertising through the engaging use of commercials. While responses were mixed as to the applicability of the topic, the majority of students agreed that the topic was a worthwhile addition to the personal finance curriculum.

Topics such as budgets, savings, and mortgages are typically taught in personal finance classes. Teaching information about market research and advertising is a topic that is usually not covered in a personal finance class.

This study investigates whether a higher level of pre‐natal testosterone, as indicated by the 2D: 4D digit ratio, is a correlate of psychopathy and cognitive empathy. The main research hypothesis predicts that 2D: 4D digit ratios will correlate negatively with psychopathy scores and positively with cognitive empathy scores. The study facilitates a within‐subjects correlational design, using a quasi‐experimental method consisting of questionnaires and digit measurements. Fifty‐four participants volunteered and were gathered via purposive and convenience sampling. Each participant completed a self‐report psychopathy scale, a cognitive empathy test, a verbal IQ test and a scan of both hands. The scans were later measured and computed for digit ratios. T‐tests, multiple partial correlations and multiple regression found that, contrary to the research hypothesis, a higher level of pre‐natal oestrogen, as indicated by a larger 2D: 4D digit ratio, is a positive correlate of psychopathy in females, and a positive correlate of callous affect (psychopathy sub‐scale) in males, at less than 0.01 probability levels. Gender is also a correlate of psychopathy, as males scored significantly higher than females at 0.01 probability levels. This result sheds an interesting new light on the physiological correlates of psychopathy and the role that pre‐natal oestrogen plays in organisational effects on the brain during pre‐ and post‐natal development.