L'objectif de cette thèse est d'examiner les liens entre la communication et les représentations mentales. Les représentations mentales renvoient à la manière dont les négociateurs perçoivent les différents éléments de la négociation, comme l'objet négocié ou les relations intergroupes. Des études antérieures ont permis d'observer que les représentations mentales des négociateurs évoluent au cours de la négociation. D'après certains auteurs, ces modifications auraient pour origine la communication, et notamment l'orientation distributive (c'est-à-dire, visant à faire du bénéfice au détriment de l'autre parti) ou intégrative (c'est-à-dire, visant à créer une solution satisfaisante pour les deux partis) des comportements verbaux. A partir d'une revue de littérature, il était supposé qu'à l'issue de la négociation, les attitudes des négociateurs à l'égard du projet négocié convergeraient et qu'une amélioration des perceptions intergroupes (mesurée par la différenciation intergroupe, le biais de favoritisme pro-endogroupe et le biais d'homogénéisation de l'exogroupe) serait observée. Il était également attendu que les comportements verbaux intégratifs favorisaient davantage que les comportements verbaux distributifs la convergence des attitudes, l'amélioration des perceptions intergroupes et la satisfaction des négociateurs. Quatre études ont été mises en place pour vérifier ces hypothèses. Chacune d'entre elles utilisaient des simulations de négociations autour de projet. Les résultats indiquent bien une convergence des attitudes et une meilleure perception intergroupe. En revanche, les liens observés entre les comportements verbaux distributifs et intégratifs et l'évolution des représentations mentales sont plus complexes que ceux attendus

It has been considered that spam is one of the worst advertising tools in the Internet because of wide range of porno, Viagra, luxury brands’ replicas and other unwanted mailings all over the world; nevertheless, a lot of companies continue to use this tool for products’ or services’ introduction to their potential clients and partners. According to the author’s personal four-year-experience in marketing field, the mostly asked question by companies is how to advertise the product or service to new potential partners or clients using spam without losing the reputation of the company. The author wishes to investigate whether it is possible by carefully thought-out and aimed at the right market spam advertisement to draw people’s attention. This study employs partly quantitative and partly qualitative research approach. Empirical data collection is organized through questionnaires and personal mailing experiment. Random people who filled in the first questionnaire were from the author’s personal network all over the world. Regarding the second questionnaire the author has chosen to research Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as the area of medium-sized companies’ location. The author used 2 million American e-mail addresses in her personal mailing experiment. In order to analyze the findings through a set of graphical techniques exploratory data analysis was used. Both questionnaires consisted from dichotomous (Yes-no) questions, alternative questions, wh-questions and descriptive questions, analysis of which incorporated through the literature review. In addition to this, personal mailing experiment is present in the study where the author tests the attitude towards spam and the perception of advertisement based on the literature review as well. It became clear that it is possible by carefully thought-out and aimed at the right market spam advertisement to draw people’s attention. The author’s experiment has proved that there are some people or the e-mail users who actually buy products advertised in spam e-mails. One of the factors that influence attitude towards e-mails might be because of the particular spam usefulness or low time consumption but the success of the online advertisement depends on people’s perception. In the particular case the attitude towards advertisement was determined by advertisement’s execution and feelings transferred by it. It is important to remember that advertisers have to take main nuances into account when introducing products or services to new clients or partners, such as clear understanding of spam mailing goals, topics of interest, perception of visual information, time of advertisement, and trust.

Computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CCBT) has been recommended for patients in the National Health Service (NHS) Primary Care across the United Kingdom for management of mild to moderate anxiety and depression. This approach also promises financial savings, and may fill the gap between demand and supply of face-to-face therapy. Studies have shown that CCBT is feasible and effective. However, dropout rates can be as high as 86%, but the reasons remain unclear and the information available is limited. This thesis explores factors that may impact on the usability and user experience of this computer-mediated therapy. Espousing the “real world” research philosophy and widely used methods in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field for usability evaluations, four studies using a mixed-methods design were conducted. Study I was an online usability survey, which investigated if usability evaluations had been conducted for CCBT applications. Two versions of questionnaires were sent to four CCBT software developers and ten authors of randomised controlled trials. The categories and responses of the questionnaires gathered from five respondents were reviewed and summarised. The findings suggested that usability evaluations for CCBT were still in their infancy when compared to other healthcare interventions to which HCI approaches have been widely applied. Study II was a usability Heuristic Evaluation (HE) conducted with four expert evaluators to assess two different CCBT applications’ interfaces (MoodGYM and Living Life to the Full) against the self-designed usability heuristics for their compliance. The findings revealed numerous usability issues. Major problems related to navigation and inconsistency of the interfaces were identified. These could be rectified to enhance the user experience. Study III focused on other factors besides usability that might have an influence on the effective use of CCBT. Perceptions of service providers who were involved in both decision-making about CCBT availability and supporting its use were gathered. Nine service providers at different NHS organisations were interviewed. The interviews were analysed using techniques from Grounded Theory (GT). The findings suggested that the practitioners’ attitudes towards CCBT might have affected its service delivery. Four categories from the data analysis were identified: (1) shaping behaviour, (2) implementing and delivering, (3) making an appropriate referral, and (4) technology/CCBT packages - advancing with time. A conceptual model was also generated, “building support around CCBT”: a road-map that could address some of these issues. Study IV examined patients’ perceptions and acceptance of a CCBT application (Beating the Blues), its usability and the user experience, and also whether the user characteristics (e.g. computer experience (CE) and computer self-efficacy (CSE)) had any influence on patients’ use of this technology. A mixed-methods approach was utilised with a sample of 33 participants. Face-to-face and email interviews were conducted. Feedback was also gathered from a usability questionnaire and think-aloud protocol with seven participants selected from the sample. The data were analysed using Thematic and Saliency Analysis to uncover themes. Descriptive statistics were used to describe data from questionnaires. Two overarching themes from the interviews were identified: (1) access to CCBT services, and (2) perceptions and attitudes towards CCBT. Both themes revealed issues which might have significantly impacted on patients’ engagement with CCBT. Numerous flaws were also discovered in the application’s design and functionality (e.g. navigation, aesthetics, relevance of content, and inflexibility). However, the results from CE and CSE questionnaires suggested that participants were confident in using this technology. The four studies provided an in-depth understanding of factors that affect the usability and user experience of CCBT and possible reasons for the high attrition rates. The implications of this research point to the need for health policymakers to focus on the current implementation issues and on how best to deploy this treatment therapy to patients. Further development of CCBT is pivotal to its success, in particular, expanding contexts of use and increasing usability evaluations. Keeping users interested and engaged will improve treatment efficiency, completion rates and will achieve better clinical outcomes.