I am Esther Görnemann,.a Marie Curie Fellow (H2020 Privacy & Us ITN) and PhD student at WU Vienna. Happy to see you're interested in my Research project.
During preliminary interview sessions, a number of internet and smartphone users talked to me about the surprising experience when they realized that personal information had been collected, processed an applied without their knowledge. In these interviews and in countless furious online reports and tweets, users expressed concern about their device, often stating they felt taken by surprise, patronized or spied upon.
Drawing from philosophical and sociological theories, this research project conceptualizes moments of truth (MOT) as the event in which the arrival of new information results in a new interpretation of reality and a fundamental change of perceived alternatives of behavioral responses. The notion of control is a key factor of psychological ownership as well as for situational behavioral reactions. I argue that the loss of control over personal information is a central element of the experience of moments of truth and construct a model to predict subjects’ affective and behavioral responses to MOTs. A central question is why certain people display an increased motivation to claim their rights, convince others, adapt usage patterns and take protective measures.
