EAGER: The Role of Emotion in Risk Communication and Warning: Application to Risks of Failures to Update Software

终端用户的上网行为会显著影响下一代软件系统的可靠性和安全性。例如，在访问未知网站时，跳过反复的软件更新请求或无视安全警告，虽然非常危险，但这种情况并不少见。虽然最终用户的行为（或不作为）经常为网络攻击提供机会，但缺乏情感诉求和当前软件更新/警告信息的设计不良在很大程度上是造成这种危险行为的原因，下文将对此进行解决。首先，本项目从情感认知的角度确定了当前软件更新/警告信息的局限性，并通过结合情感诉求来解决缺点，从而更有效地引起注意和唤起情感。此外，信息设计根据上下文和用户过去的行为自适应地改变，以对抗习惯效应。最后，为了提高合规率，本项目制定了情感教育和接种策略，使用户能够识别和避免与风险网络行为相关的诱惑。该项目的成功完成将极大地促进对情感对安全在线行为决策过程影响的理解，并将彻底改变软件供应商传达运行易受攻击软件的风险并警告用户的方式。研究结果将在主要学术场所发表，并通过项目网站发布。研究议程将与课程发展活动相结合。康涅狄格大学现有的项目将促进多样性，吸引来自代表性不足社区的学生。

End-users' online behavior can significantly affect the reliability and security of next-generation software systems. For instance, skipping repeated requests to update software or ignoring security warnings while visiting unknown websites, while extremely dangerous, are not uncommon. Although end-users' actions (or inactions) often open up the opportunity for cyber-attacks, the lack of emotional appeals and poor design of the current software update/warning messages are to blame to a large extent for such risky behavior, which is addressed as follows. First, this project identifies the limitations of the current software update/warning messages from an affective-cognitive perspective, and addresses the shortcomings by incorporating emotional appeals that command attention and evoke emotions more effectively. Also, message designs are changed adaptively based on the context and user's past behavior to counter the habituation-effect. Finally, to increase the compliance rate, this project develops emotional education and inoculation strategies that enable users to recognize and avoid the temptation associated with risky online behavior. Successful completion of this project will greatly advance the understanding of the impact of emotion on the decision making process in regards to safe online behavior, and will revolutionize the way software vendors communicate the risks of running vulnerable software and warn users. The research findings will be published in premier academic venues, and will be disseminated through project website. Research agendas will be integrated with the curriculum development activities. Existing programs at UConn will be leveraged to promote diversity and engage students from underrepresented communities.