Peter Kahn, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Degree From: University of California - Berkeley
Interests: Social and Moral Development. Human-Robot Interaction. The Psychological Effects of Digitized Natural Information

Contact

Office Guthrie 308
Phone (206) 616-9395
E-mail pkahn@uw.edu
Website http://faculty.washington.edu/pkahn/
HINTS Lab http://depts.washington.edu/hints/

Advising

Do I accept and train new psychology graduate students in general?
Yes
Am I accepting new graduate students in the upcoming year?
Yes 2010-2011
Developmental

Research

The Human Interaction with Nature and Technological Systems (HINTS) lab seeks to address – from an ethical stance – two world trends that are powerfully reshaping human existence. One is the degradation if not destruction of large parts of the natural world. The second is unprecedented technological development, both in terms of its computational sophistication and pervasiveness. Humans will adapt to such changes. How could we not: it is that or we will die as a species. But questions emerge: (a) Will such adaptations portend any fundamental impoverishment in terms of human functioning and human flourishing? (b) Are frequent interactions with diverse nature important, or even necessary, for children to develop well -- physically and psychologically? (c) What are the psychological effects of interacting with “Technological Nature” – technologies that mediate, augment, or simulate nature (e.g., robot pets, real-time digital windows of nature, and tele-operated gardening)? (d) How can personified computational systems (e.g., humanoid robots, androids, and “smart homes”) be designed to enhance children’s social and moral development? And (e) how can technological systems be designed to enhance the world, and where should we back off from specific technological designs and implementation? The HINTS lab focuses on these questions. We aim for rigor in our scientific research. Depth in our apprehension of the problems. Solutions that build on the biodiversity of human experience. And far-ranging compassionate visions of the future.

Research Publications

  • Kahn, P. H., Jr., Severson, R. L., & Ruckert, J. H. (2009). The human relation with nature and technological nature. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 37-42.
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr. (2009). Cohabitating with the wild. Ecopsychology, 1, 38-46.
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr., Freier, N., G., Kanda, T., Ishiguro, H., Ruckert, J. H., Severson, R. L., & Kane, S. K. (2008). Design patterns for sociality in human robot interaction. Proceedings of the 3rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction 2008 (pp. 271-278). New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery.
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr., Friedman, B., Gill, B., Hagman, J., Severson, R. L., Freier, N. G., Feldman, E. N., Carrère, S., & Stolyar, A. (2008). A plasma display window? – The shifting baseline problem in a technologically-mediated natural world. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28, 192-199.
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr., Ishiguro, H., Friedman, B., & Kanda, T. (2006). What is a human? – Toward psychological benchmarks in the field of human-robot interaction. Proceedings of the 15th International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN ’06) (pp. 364-371). Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr. (1999). The Human Relationship with Nature: Development and Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Research Support

 

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