Positive Change and Positive Technology

Cyberpsychology is a recent branch of psychology that is driven by the quest to help humans deal with their digital environments. The object of study in cyberpsy- chology, as it is for much Human-Computer Interaction research, is the change intro- duced by the technology and not the technology itself. In particular, it aims at the understanding, forecasting and activation of the different processes of change related to the use of new technologies. However, within this broad focus cyberpsychology has two faces. On one side, cyberpsychology tries to understand how technologies can be used to induce clinical change (cybertherapy). On the other side, cyberpsychol- ogy focuses on the possible use of technology for improving personal development and well-being (positive technology).In this chapter we introduced and described the “Positive Technology” approach: the scientific and applied approach for the use of technology in improving the quality of our personal experience through its structur- ing, augmentation and/or replacement – as a way of framing a suitable object of study in the field of personal change. First, we suggest that it is possible to use technol- ogy to manipulate the quality of experience, with the goal of increasing wellness, and generating strengths and resilience in individuals, organizations and society. Then we will classify positive technologies according to their effects on these three features of personal experience - Hedonic: technologies used to induce positive and pleas- ant experiences; Eudaimonic: technologies used to support individuals in reaching engaging and self-actualizing experiences; Social/Interpersonal: technologies used to support and improve the connectedness between individuals, groups, and organiza- tions. Finally, for each level we have identified critical variables – affect regulation for the Hedonic, flow and presence for the Eudaimonic; social presence, collective inten- tions and networked flow for the Social/Interpersonal – that can be manipulated and controlled to guide the design and development of positive technologies.