Thesis
Fear responses to invasive BCI headlines vary with technology acceptance and knowledge
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
May 2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00011435
Abstract
The way information is communicated in media can shape public opinion, emotions, and behaviors, and fear is an especially powerful driver of perception and decision-making. The increase in discussions about invasive Brain-Computer Interface devices raises questions about how fear-eliciting media portrayals may shape public attitudes. Alarming depictions of BCI technology, regardless of how grounded they are in reality, may amplify the perceived threat and drive decision-making. However, we have limited knowledge of how these depictions may influence public fear and how they might differ at the individual level. We administered a survey where we asked participants to view fear-eliciting and neutral headlines about invasive BCI and collected fear ratings. We measured technology acceptance for each participant to examine differences between subjects. Additionally, we collected demographic data and measured neuroscience knowledge for exploratory analyses. We hypothesized that manipulated fear-eliciting headlines about invasive BCI devices would elicit more fear than neutral headlines about invasive BCI. At the individual level, we expected lower levels of fear to be associated with differences in technology acceptance. Additionally, we anticipated that higher levels of neuroscience knowledge could be associated with lower fear ratings, and that ethical topics and participant age could have an effect on fear. We found that fear-eliciting headlines were related to higher fear than neutral headlines, and fear did not differ across ethical topics. Moreover, we found that high acceptance of BCI-specific technology was related to less fear overall, with some constructs more strongly related than others. Interestingly, high acceptance was also related to greater sensitivity to the fear-eliciting condition, with some constructs more strongly related than others. We found that having more neuroscience knowledge did not significantly influence overall fear, but those with more knowledge also demonstrated greater sensitivity to the fear-eliciting condition. Finally, age did not have a significant effect on overall fear or sensitivity to the fear-eliciting condition. These results suggest that it is possible to craft fear-inducing headlines about BCI, and evaluating their accuracy, likelihood to elicit fear, and impacts on technology adoption should be a focus of future studies.
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Details
- Title
- Fear responses to invasive BCI headlines vary with technology acceptance and knowledge
- Creators
- Grace Ann Harvey
- Contributors
- John D. Medaglia (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Science (M.S.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University
- Number of pages
- vii, 44 pages
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology); College of Arts and Sciences; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991022189595804721