Matthew Goral

An investigation of how empathy is learned and expressed through mobile devices and on social media. Focusing in on the American teenager, these experiments take the form of games that challenge each player’s perception of others.

http://itp.nyu.edu/thesis/thesis2016/mtg337/

Description

Feeling Connected is an attempt to discover how empathy is communicated and learned through mobile devices. The project focuses on American teenagers, aged 13 to 17 years old, as its target demographic. Through a series of games, Feeling Connected explores the components of mobile telecommunication that have the greatest effect on, and are most affected by empathy.
Feeling Connected looks at the psychological foundation of empathy, theory of mind, and puts it to the test in false-belief games. The theory of mind is one’s ability to recognize differences between one’s own perception and feelings and those of others. The most accurate tests for the theory of mind are based on deception, which is an extremely common concept in game design, from hide-and-seek to stealth action video games. Additional concepts explored by this project include games of falsehood (playing pretend), mirror neurons, “empathy simulators,” and the educational method of “learning by teaching.”

Classes

Thesis