Sessions at SXSW Interactive 2011 about Psychology on Friday 11th March

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• Social Games: Manipulating Your Brain Chemistry, For Good

  by Adam Penenberg, Brenda Gershkovitch, Jason Brown, Margaret Wallace and Michael Fergusson

  Generally speaking, there's an assumption that casual games are a waste of time. What can playing a "meaningless" Facebook game for a few minutes really accomplish, anyways? Do I really need to "rescue" another "sheep"? Another point of view is that they're a little bit sinister, manipulating you into emptying your wallet, or giving up personal information. But perhaps both positions are missing the point. This new genre we call "Casual Social Games" represents a fascinating opportunity to better understand our own behavior, and to direct it, intentionally, for our own benefit, and for the greater good of society.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Casual Games
  • Games
  • Games for Social Impact
  • Psychology

  At 3:30pm to 4:30pm, Friday 11th March

  In Ballroom B, Austin Convention Center

• Will Your New Technology Win? Ask a Tree

  by Ross Mclean

  Picking the right new technology to bet on and be on is a fundamental challenge in just about any business. But separating the future blockbuster from the flash-in-the-pan early enough in its lifespan to matter often baffles many of the smartest among us.

  This presentation proposes a simple analogy to help us dramatically improve our ability to predict which new technologies are destined to be the next Facebook, and which will be the next Second Life.

  By taking the audience on a historical tour of successes and failures in human technological innovation and filtering the cases through core principles of psychology, anthropology and other social sciences it makes two core points.

  First, it helps us understand why we are often blind to truly great and novel ideas and how we can learn to see them better.

  Second, it lays out a set of simple principles and a shockingly simple core analogy that anyone working in a field that requires getting humans and technology to interact can use every day.

  LEVEL: Advanced

  • Anthropology
  • History
  • Psychology
  • Technology

  At 5:00pm to 6:00pm, Friday 11th March

  In Salon H, Hilton Austin Downtown